Harry Potter and the New Start
by Rowanna Llewelyn
Summary: What if Harry decided not to ignore the crying baby at Kings Cross Station? What if he picks up Tom Riddle's soul? A possible tale of what could have happened after chapter 35. Has slash between Harry and YOUNG Albus Dumbledore. Hiatus as I am stuck!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything you recognise

**Disclaimer: **JK Rowling owns everything you recognise. Please don't sue me.

**Chapter One: What is right.**

"I've got to go back, haven't I?'

'That is up to you.'

'I've got a choice?'

'Oh yes.' Dumbledore smiled at him. 'We are in King's Cross, you say? I think if you decided not to go back, you would be able to…let's say…board a train.'

'And where would it take me?'

'On,' said Dumbledore simply.

Silence again.

'Voldemort's got the Elder Wand.'

'True. Voldemort has the Elder Wand.'

'But you want me to go back?'

'I think,' said Dumbledore, 'that if you choose to return, there is a chance that he may be finished for good. I cannot promise it. But I know this, Harry, that you have less to fear from returning here than he does.'

Harry glanced again at the raw-looking thing that trembled and choked in the shadow beneath the distant chair. (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: London, 2007. p. 578)

'And what happens to that if I go back?' Harry asked.

Dumbledore sighed. 'He has made his choices, Harry. But by going back you can perhaps help your friends. If you went with that, I don't know what would happen.'

'So, if I picked up the...baby, I would go back somewhere. Maybe back to the beginning?'

'Harry my boy, your heart if full of compassion, but I say again, he has made his choices. Go back to your friends. They still have hope.'

Harry stared at Dumbledore and then moved decisively across the platform to the baby creature. It had stopped whimpering and was looking up at Harry and held its arms out imploringly. With a flicker of distaste, quickly stifled, Harry bent down and picked up the baby.

'Professor, you once told me about making a choice between what is right and what is easy. Going back to my friends would be easy. But what is right is to try and save this, Tom, too. Yes he made the choices to get to where he is now, but he wasn't born evil. If he makes different choices, there may be no need for a Boy-Who-Lived and all the people who have died could be saved.'

'Harry…'

'I've made my choice. I'm going with Tom.'

'Uggh'. He was lying on the ground again. He slowly lifted his head and took a look around. He wasn't in the Forest anymore. In fact, he wasn't quite sure where he was. Harry slowly stood up and took a look around. He was in an alley way looking out at cobbled streets with old fashioned black cars driving along it. He took a closer look at a car and realised that they were black Model T Fords. A clip clop clip clop sound approached and Harry saw a grey horse pulling a coach along behind it. The building directly opposite Harry was rather square, grim looking building with railings surrounding it. It looked vaguely familiar. 'Wahhh' A baby cried and Harry looked around, panicked. 'Shite. Where's the baby?' He began to look further into the alley but couldn't see Tom anywhere. A young woman came around the corner, dressed in a long skirt and pushing a perambulator with a chubby faced baby inside.

'Um, excuse me; you wouldn't have seen a baby anywhere around here would you?' Harry asked.

The woman stared at Harry.

'There are lots of babies in the orphanage across the road. Perhaps your child is there.' She sniffed and continued on her way.

'Bloody hell,' Harry muttered, "the orphanage." That's why the building looks familiar. He had seen it in the pensieve memories. Which means…? 'Bloody hell. I've gone back in time.'

'Shite, now what do I do? I need Hermione and her magic bag. What do I have with me? Harry looked down at himself. He was still wearing the clothes he had worn going into the forest. His invisibility cloak was folded up and in one pocket. He had his wand, his mokeskin wallet with 195 galleons, 56 sickles and 17 knuts in it. He also had some pound notes. He was about to discard the notes as useless, due to the fact they were printed in 1992 when he realised that they looked different. They were a mix of 10 and 20 pound notes, except they were really old, or rather, recent. Printed in the1920's. In total, about 200 pounds, the same amount as when he was in 1998. 'Right. So I have wizard and muggle money, my wallet, wand, cloak and what I'm wearing now. And I am outside the orphanage where Riddle grew up. I wonder what the date is. And what should I do? If he's a baby or a small kid, I could easily kill him. But that's making me as bad as Voldemort. I want to help him change. Or rather become a new person. Blimey this is confusing. I'll just go to the orphanage and ask about him.'

Decision made, Harry crossed the cobbled road and knocked on the door. After a few minutes it was opened by a woman, also familiar, though the last image Harry had seen of her, she was older.

'I'm Mrs. Cole, matron of the orphanage. How can I help you today?' she asked.

"Hello. Umm, I have an enquiry about a boy, a baby really. I think my … sister might have left him here. Her name was Merope and she was going to call her boy Tom…." Harry explained.

"Oh, yes, the boy baby. Yes, your sister was here, however, she didn't leave the baby behind. I mean, she died. I'm very sorry for your loss. It was about a month ago. The boy, Tom Marvolo she said to call him, he's quite healthy. I am glad that there is a relative to take him in. You are here to take him, aren't you?"

Harry looked at Mrs. Cole, nonplussed.

"I hadn't really thought this through, I, guess I wasn't expecting to have to make this decision. I haven't anywhere to stay or a job…"

"That's perfectly all right dear. You were not expecting such tragic news. But, if you could take Tom, it really would be the best thing for him. We try our best here, but we have little funds and if a child has relatives, it really is best to stay with family. So, umm, what is your name?"

Mrs. Cole asked.

"Harry, Harry Ashby."

"Right, well Harry, if you would like to sort out a place to live, and employment, it really would be best for Tom to go with you. And Merope, she died before being able to sign his birth certificate. As her next of kin, there are some legal matters to take care of. His name, we all call him Tom but it is not official yet."

"You can call him Tom. Just Tom Ashby. Marvolo is a rather odd name. Makes him stand out. And Merope wasn't actually married to Riddle, just thought she was. So really, Ashby is the best surname for him." Harry said decisively. _And he can't get the name Lord Voldemort from Ashby either. So I'm already changing things, _he thought.

"Right, well that would explain the letter from Mr. Riddle. We wrote, you see, to tell him of his wife's death and he wrote back saying he had no wife and to not contact him again. So, shall we sort out this paperwork, and then see you in a day or two?" Mrs. Cole pressed.

"Okay, sure. What do I have to sign?"

Harry left the orphanage about two hours later. He had signed paperwork for Tom's birth certificate, with the name Thomas Ashby, and had agreed to take Tom within the week. He'd left behind 20 pounds, which seemed to be quite a lot in these times. Harry also had held Tom, and looking down into his _brown _eyes, had reaffirmed his decision made at Kings Cross. Only a baby looked back at him. This wasn't the monster that killed his parents and Cedric. Tom was just an innocent baby, and Harry was going to do his best to make sure that this Tom grew up different. And if he ever went bad, well, Harry would deal with that too.

His first stop after leaving the orphanage was to head to the Leaky Cauldron. He knew roughly whereabouts it would be, but the streets were quite different from his time. There were hardly any cars, only the Model T and similar looking Model A. There were people walking, coaches and trams. There were also people riding horses on greens. Harry supposed he looked odd and out of place in his jeans and knitted jumper. After wandering for a while, Harry noticed some owls flitting above him. As it was still daylight and he was a wizard, he correctly assumed that he must be seeing postal owls and that the Leaky Cauldron was nearby. Sure enough, he soon saw the Leaky Cauldron, with people coming in and out wearing long cloaks that surprisingly, didn't look too out of place. The Cauldron didn't look as shabby as he remembered it, but reasoned that it is 70 years younger. Taking a deep breath, Harry strode through the doors of the Leaky Cauldron, ready to face the wizarding world and change his life.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Inheritance

Chapter Two: Creating Harry Ashby

Diagon Alley looked similar yet different. Gringotts was still down one end with shining white marble walls, and Ollivanders was there, along with a few other stores he remembered; such as Slug and Jiggers, Madame Malkins and Flourish and Blott, but there were also new, or rather old stores that he hadn't seen before. There were a realtors, small grocery store, a candle shop, a herbology store and a lolly shop. The streets were swept clean of snow and there was still a few Christmas decorations left up. It was also a lot busier than he remembered. Of course, the last time he had been here, it was during a war and people were less likely to be shopping. Harry strolled down the alley, glancing into the shop windows. He stopped at where Quality Quidditch used to be. It was still a broom shop and held quidditch gear, but they were very different from what Harry was used to. _'Brand New Cleansweep One. Revolutionary Quidditch broom. Priced at 3 galleons. Moontrimmer broom, only 15 sickles. Blimey they're old. And the prices are cheap. Well, not really if you're accounting for inflation from now till the 90's. I suppose it works out at about 80 pounds in 1998. Or about 15 pounds now. What prices are things now, I wonder.'_ Harry thought.

"Dress robe made from acromantula silk, 1 galleon. Books; knuts and sickles. Flat for rent. Two bedroom flat at corner of Fraction Alley. 4 galleons a week. Enquire at Vesta's Candles. Will have to check that out." Harry said to himself.

At the end of the alley stood Gringotts:

_Enter, stranger, but take heed__  
__Of what awaits the sin of greed,__  
__For those who take, but do not earn,__  
__Must pay most dearly in their turn.__  
__So if you seek beneath our floors__  
__A treasure that was never yours,__  
__Thief, you have been warned, beware__  
__Of finding more than treasure there. _

_(Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone)_

_"Well, I haven't actually stolen anything yet, so I should be fine."_

_Harry entered the bank and headed over to the tellers. A largish goblin with numerous warts on his head called; "Next."_

_"Hi, I'm looking to open a bank account with you, and also, is it possible to see if I have any inheritance left to me?" Harry asked. He figured it couldn't hurt. Maybe he had a long lost relative that didn't have any direct heirs. He knew that he wasn't entitled to the Potter vault, as he had older living relatives. _

_"Name?" the goblin asked._

_"Harry Ashby. I'd like to deposit 78 galleons and 150 pounds sterling into a new account."_

_" All right. This is your new key. We can either take the cart down to your vault now, or give it to one of the vault goblins to deposit for you. It works out at an extra 24 galleons, 15 sickles and 6 knuts for the muggle money, minus a 7 sickle fee for exchange. An inheritance check is 2 galleons or 2 of your inheritance, whichever is larger. Do you still wish to go ahead?" the goblin asked. _

_Harry nodded. "That's fine for a vault goblin to deposit the money. I trust the bank. And the fees for the inheritance test sound fine. How about this, I will also give back ownership of any goblin made articles I inherit to the bank too, as a gesture of goodwill. Now, if I could also have your name, good goblin."_

_The goblin stared at Harry. "My name. Wizards never ask for names. Or give back Goblin-made goods. It's Bonesnapper. Now, follow me to my office."_

_Bonesnapper got up and Harry followed him to a small office at the rear of the bank. Once inside, Harry sat on a small chair and waited whilst Bonesnapper sorted through some papers. _

_"Here. Prick your finger and place seven drops of blood on the parchment. If you are eligible for any inheritance, it will list it." Bonesnapper handed Harry a pin and parchment. _

_Pricking his finger, Harry let the blood drip onto the parchment. Nothing happened at first, then lines started forming on the page. He handed it back to Bonesnapper._

_"Now, this doesn't give you a copy of your family tree or anything. It just tells you what you can inherit due to being the closest blood connection to a deceased vault holder. Now let's see. There is a small vault once belonging to the Peverells, which you can inherit. It only contains 6 galleons and some paintings and crockery. And a slightly larger vault belonging to the _Evangelos family. It contains some family heirlooms, including a set of 6 goblin silver goblets, 3 wands, a Mediterranean flying carpet, a set of cauldrons, a dining suite made from imported ebony, some ivory candlesticks, paintings and 126 galleons, 15 sickles and 72 knuts. Oh, and the deeds to a small farmstead near Dartmoor in Devon. Uninhabited for the past century, so doubtless needs work. The Evangelos family was a Greek family that immigrated to England in 1621 to avoid the Black Death spreading through Europe. They were a pureblood family that flourished here for many years. The last known wizard Evangelos was Marcus Evangelos, who died in 1813. He had only one child, a boy called Stephen who was a squib. There are no further records after that. I assume that you must be related to the squib son somewhere in your line. Only wizards can inherit from this family, so you must be the first male wizard since 1813 who has been eligible. Congratulations."

Harry looked shocked. "Well, the bank can have the goblets. Could I empty and close the Peverell vault and link the Evangelos vault to my new one? If I could also take a look in that vault, find out where this farmstead is, and the condition of the paintings and furniture?"

Bonesnapper nodded and the pair walked to the carts. "Vault number 611 please."

The cart sped off, deeper into the bowels of the bank. "The vault will require a drop of your blood to access. It will then present you with a key for future use. If you lose the key, you will have to notify the bank so it can be destroyed and a new blood key will be issued at a cost of 12 sickles," Bonesnapper explained. Harry nodded. The cart stopped. Upon opening the vault, Harry saw a small pile of gold, and a large carved dark wood table and chairs. Exquisitely made, with firebird engravings and red velvet cushions, all carefully preserved under charms. There were portraits of dark haired men and women, with twirling moustaches and dimples. There was also a portrait of a wedding of a dark haired man; with one of the largest moustaches Harry had seen; to a young brunette woman with sparkling green eyes. "Evangelos, Evans. My mother is descended from this family. Not a muggleborn after all." He murmured. The deed to the farmstead was on the table, with apparation co ordinates and an address available. He directed Bonesnapper to collect the goblets, pocketed the deed, took one last look around, then left.

Back on Diagon Alley, Harry hurried to the Candle Shop. A plump witch greeted him. "Hello, I'm enquiring about the flat advertised in your window. Is it still available and could I possible view it?" he asked.

The witch, Vesta, was quite happy to show him the flat. She hung a closed for 15 minutes sign on the door and they hurried up the alley to the intersection with Fraction Alley. "Its only small, more of a bed sit than a flat really." Vesta explained, "it belonged to my husband's brother who passed away recently. We are looking at renting it out until we can sell it. The market is quite slow at the moment. There are two bedrooms, though one is little bigger than a closet, a small bath and toilet, kitchenette with a cool box and wood fired oven. It comes furnished, with a table, single bed and a couple of arm chairs. Though a bright young man like you could surely transfigure some nicer things. We require rent paid a week in advance, so 2 weeks up front. Is that acceptable?" Vesta asked.

Harry took a look around. It was nothing glamorous, but he had to admit, it was much better than anything he had at Privet Drive. _The second room could be used for Tom_, he thought. "Mrs. Williams, " "Oh call me Vesta dear." "Vesta, I would be interested in renting this flat from you, but I am only looking for short term. I have inherited a farm in Dartmoor that is in need of repair. Once I get that sorted, I will move there. I can give you, say three weeks rent now, and we can see how the farm renovations go. Would that be all right? I also have a nephew, a one month old boy called Tom, who is orphaned and will be living with me. Do you know where I could get appropriate baby things. I don't have a clue where to get or what to get!" Harry asked.

Vesta Williams quite happily agreed to the short term rent and was also able to advise Harry of where to go to purchase baby things. She also offered to take him there tomorrow, as it was now too late to get anything today. Harry thanked her and gave her the 12 galleons for rent in exchange for the keys. He then went up to the Leaky Cauldron for a supper of Shepherds pie and a butter beer. He would need to add food and clothes shopping to his list tomorrow, Harry thought. Just before dark, he apparated back to the orphanage. It was locked up for the night so Harry left a note.

Mrs. Cole,

I have found suitable lodgings for both myself and Tom. I will be able to collect him late tomorrow afternoon, if that is acceptable. Yours

Harry Ashby.

Pushing the letter under the door, Harry walked back to the alleyway he woke up in this morning, looked around and apparated back to the little dingy flat that was to be his new home for a while. His last thoughts before sleep claimed him were, _it's not a tent…_


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything you recognise

Chapter Three: Getting stuff sorted.

Harry woke in tears the next morning. The realisation that he was in the past and would probably never see his friends again had caught up with him. He would never get to play chess and lose against Ron, listen to Hermione prattle on about Hogwarts: A History or kiss Ginny. The previous day he had kept going through the shock of his arrival and decision to adopt Tom, but today he felt like curling up into a ball and wailing in a corner. Harry had pretty much been alone his entire life before Hogwarts and it looked like he was going to be alone again. He lay in bed for a while before remembering that Vesta was due to meet him this morning to help him buy baby things. Reluctantly getting out of bed, Harry ran a bath, washed and then realised that he had no clean clothes to wear. "Bugger" he swore softly. Performing a cleaning charm, he put back on yesterdays clothes. They were no longer dirty but still didn't feel quite right and they had seen better days. Well, they had been dragged across Britain in a backpack and shot with the killing curse.

Mrs. Williams arrived just after 8 with a small basket. "Dearie, I noticed that you didn't have anything with you yesterday, so I brought some of my home made buns, a pint of milk and some tea. There's an old kettle in one of these cupboards, we'll give in a wash then have a nice breakfast while you tell me where you need to go today. I've got my niece Gloria watching the shop so I have all morning for you."

Harry was very pleased to see such nice food. The current buns were emitting a mouthwatering scent that made his stomach growl in appreciation. They sorted through the cupboards and managed to find the kettle, a couple of chipped plate and mugs and sat in the armchairs to talk.

"Well, as I said yesterday, I have a farm in Devon, it will need a lot of work to make it livable, I suppose. It's been unoccupied for about a century. Is there a wizard building firm or something? Also, I need lots of things for Tom, a bed, clothes, nappies. And I suppose lots more stuff. I know I could get some food from the grocery store on Diagon Alley and some new clothes for me. I also need to find out if I could take my OWLS." Harry had thought this through last night. As he didn't exist in this time, there would be no record of him. No record meant no OWLS. No OWLS meant no qualifications and a poor chance of getting a decent job. He would also like to try to sit his NEWTS sometime, to honour Hermione, who always tried to push him to do his schoolwork. He had come up with a back story for his new life. "I thought I was muggleborn, you see. My mum died when I was little, so I guess she could have been a witch, but my dad was a squib. My sister couldn't do much magic. We moved around loads and I never went to Hogwarts. I learnt some magic over the years from people my dad knew and from books, so I think I have a good chance of passing some OWLS. Is it possible to arrange to sit them at the Ministry?" Harry asked. Vesta looked thoughtful. "I suppose there must be. Not everyone attends Hogwarts, too expensive. Though Elphaba Sprogg is using the idea of Hogwarts scholarships in her bid to be Minister. So plenty of witches and wizards are home schooled. You could apply at the Ministry, see if they have set testing times and book to sit. You may want some more books to read, to refresh your memory. Now, as for building, there are a couple of lads down on Lantern Way who are good hands at fixing up buildings. Mathius Prewett and Walter, oh what's his name. Walter Picks. You could go see them. As for things for your boy, well, let's go."

Harry and Vesta spent the next two hours shopping for necessities. Under advisement from Vesta, Harry bought a wooden cot, bedding, self cleaning nappies; _only change once-a-day_; formula, bottles, several warm baby suits and a tiny baby robe. Harry paid extra to have them charmed to grow a couple of sizes with Tom. It would end up cheaper in the long run. They went to the apothecary and got some simple home medicine potions for ailments such as headaches, colic, colds and anxiety. "Sometimes at 3 am, it pays for the parent to have a calming potion, to keep _themselves_ sane," declared Vesta. Harry also got himself a couple of pairs of trousers, three shirts, new underwear and socks, and several robes in a winter fabric. He'd noticed that the wizards here dressed more formally, and people in muggle attire tended to stand out. He did a brief shop in the grocery store, stocking up with bread, cheese, milk, tea, eggs, bacon and sausages. There was little fruit available but was able to purchase some apples. Harry figured that he'd learn't enough cooking at the Dursley's to be able to manage by himself. He returned to the flat and parted ways with Vesta, who promised to return that evening to help with Tom, and show Harry how to bath and feed him. After a quick bite of cheese on toast for lunch, Harry apparated to the Ministry.

The red phone box wasn't at its usual spot anymore. Instead, there was an old dilapidated horse box. Looking inside, Harry saw a chair in the centre. Sitting on it, he was unsurprised o drop down. _Phone boxes aren't common now, so the entrance is something else_, Harry thought. The welcome witch asked Harry the reason for his visit today. "Harry Ashby, OWL enquiries." Retrieving the badge, Harry pinned it on his robe as the doors to the atrium opened.

The atrium looked different. There was no golden statue and Harry wondered when it would be installed. There was a wizard at the welcome desk. "Wand registration over here," the man called to him. Handing it over, "Phoenix and Holly. Thanks sir." Harry pocketed his wand and asked where to go. He was told that the Office for Education was on Level Six, next to the apparation office. Harry reminded himself that he doesn't actually have a license so made a mental note to go there too. The lift ride was short. Harry shared the lift with a young witch. She looked in her early twenties. "Hello. What level?" she asked. Harry told her he was after level six. "Oh, I work up there. What are you after?" she asked. Harry explained, "I've never sat my OWLS. I could pass them, but I was home schooled. I am looking to see if I can sit them privately, and maybe even my NEWTS."

"Oh, my supervisor could help you with that," she said, "my name is Mafalda Hopkirk. I've just started here. Aren't you rather old to have not sat your OWLS?" she asked. Harry looked at her closely. _Hopkirk, she was the witch Hermione impersonated to get into the Ministry._ "Hi, I'm Harry. Yes, I'm 18 but never got around to taking them. Home schooled," he said.  
Mafalda then chatted to him for the lift ride and showed him back to the office. "Mr. Jerkins, Harry would like to talk to you about sitting his OWLS privately".

"Ah, yes, Harry is it. A bit old for OWLS aren't you? Have you sat them before?"

Jerkins asked.

"No," Harry replied, "never had an opportunity to. But I realise their importance and feel confident about sitting them."

"Hmmm, well we have testing times every 6 months, for both Hogwarts and Fairfax school students that private individuals can sit at the same time. That involves a cost of 28 knuts a test. Or you can book a private test anytime at the cost of 1 galleon and 6 sickles per test. That is to pay for the extra paperwork and time for exam supervisors. The next scheduled tests aren't until early June. If you want to sit NEWTS, you have to wait at least 3 months after passing your OWLS."

Harry thought it over. Even after his spending today and paying his rent, he had about 310 galleons plus change left. If he sat for 6 exams, it would be less than 15 galleons. Whilst a lot here, he could afford it in the hopes of using his OWLS towards getting a job. "I'd like to take them privately if I could. As soon as possible. Could I sit for Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy and History of Magic? Here's 11 galleons. That should cover them."

Mr. Jerkins looked astonished. Very rarely do young wizards go depositing such large sums of money on his desk. "How are you able to afford this Mr. Ashby? I hope this isn't ill-gotten money."

"Oh no, I have just received an inheritance and feel that education is the best way to spend it." Harry replied. "It can be checked with Gringotts, the Evangelos family."

"No, that's all right. But you shouldn't be carrying this much about with you. Thieves and pick pockets in London. Now, if you're sure that's what you want to do, here's a receipt for the galleons, and a booking slip. February 4th, just over a week away. You'll take two or three a day, theory and practical. Thank you, have a nice day."

Harry took the slip and receipt and was ushered out the office. He popped in to the Apparation Office and was able to take his test now and was quickly issued his license. He then used it to apparate to the premises of Prewett and Picks.

Mathius Prewett was an older wizard, in his fifties. He had a smiling face, reddish brown hair and firm handshake. His skin was sun roughened, making him appear older than he was, a rarity for magic users. Walter Picks was younger, early forties. Blonde haired, blue eyed and serious. Harry explained his problem. "I've inherited a property, its in Dartmoor, and has been uninhabited for quite a long time. About a century. I'd like to live there, either in whatever house is available or build a new one. It was recommended that I come and see you two for advice."

It is swiftly decided that the best thing to do would be to evaluate the property first. Mathius offered to go with Harry now to see what was left. Harry looked at his watch, and seeing it was only 2:30, decided he had a bit of time to look before collecting Tom. The pair apparated to the farmstead; Bolton Farm.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Tom

Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter belongs to Rowling. I merely try to make them do my bidding.

AN: A special thanks to tonksiscool for her detailed review. I hope you like future chapters. Also, please note that previous chapters have changed to give Harry an extra 100 galleons. He went broke too quickly.

Bolton Farm was on 25 acres of land in the town of Dittisham in Devon, about 20 km from Dartmoor National Park. The farm consisted of a run down house, with 6 bedrooms, reception room, kitchen, dining, lounge and 2 wash rooms. There was an outside necessity. At present, the house had a badly kept slate roof, peeling paint and creeping damp in some of the rooms. It reminded Harry of a better maintained, less dark Grimmauld Place. There was also an outside barn about 100 metres from the house which was a set of walls, with the thatched roof caved in. The barn would once have held cows, pigs and horses; now it contained rats, squirrels and spiders. The land had lain fallow for many years. There was an old greenhouse, with no glass in the frames, a riotous apple orchard and several badly fenced fields. Harry was devastated.

"Don't look so glum mate," Mathius said, 'it's not as bad as you're looking! It will take a bit of work, a bit more galleons but we can get this fixed up. The foundations are all right. Starting with the barn, the walls are sound. Built to last. There are a few blokes I know, muggleborns from farms, who could be paid to re-thatch the roof. Some household spells could take care of the rest. It's not planting season right now, so there's no rush to get the fields ready. I could put some new glass in the greenhouse and you could start off your own special herbs and warmer fruits, like tomatoes." Mathius paused and turned Harry back to the main house. "Now, your main concern, the house. I've been doing this for a long time, so I'm pretty good at estimating the cost of things. I got a _feeling_ that it's all structurally sound, though I'll check that properly before we start. The roof will need retiling. There are special architectural spells for drying the walls, getting rid of some bundimun infestations and doxies. You'll need new bathrooms put it; indoor plumbing wasn't heard of last time this place was lived in. So piping, bathroom refits, scraping back all the paint work, repainting, new fittings in the kitchen, get you a better stove. New carpets, or tiles if you prefer."

"It's starting to sound really expensive and time consuming," Harry said.

"No, it'll be done real quick. To tell you the truth Harry, it's a quiet time of year. Christmas and New Year just gone. Still winter. Not many people like to renovate now. If Walter and I get a couple of boys to help us, we could get it sorted within the fortnight, three weeks tops. That's the beauty of magic. Now, depending on cost for carpeting and fittings, I reckon you're looking at between 150 to 200 galleons. I know it's expensive, but that'll be everything done. House, greenhouse, barn, fences for your fields. The whole kit and caboodle. I can write you up an official quote tonight, and you can let me know," Mathius said. Taking a closer look at Harry, he added, "Or if you'd like to just start with the house, I can break the quote up for you. House being so much, and farm being another. You haven't said if you can even afford this."

Harry thought it through. He had barely enough to fix it all up now. But that would leave him only 100 galleons, unless he could sell off some heirlooms from his vaults. 100 galleons is rather a lot of money for him to have here in 1927, but he didn't know how long it would take him to find some kind of work or how much to budget for weekly expenditure. So while 200 galleons wasn't really a lot in 1998, here it was almost an astronomical amount. About 2000 pounds, which could buy him about 5 Model T Fords. So, if he thought about it, his 200 galleons here was probably at least worth 5 times what 200 galleons would be in 1998. So 2000 pounds would have been 10000 pounds, which was actually quite cheap for this much renovation, at least from what he could tell from hearing Vernon go on about rising steel and housing prices.

"Well Mathius, I can just about afford to do the whole lot. It wouldn't leave me with much of a buffer. I was wondering though, I've never lived exclusively in the wizarding world. What is the average weekly cost of living? Because if I knew that, it would help me decide whether I do the whole lot, or just the house," Harry asked.

Mathius scratched his head as he thought things over; "I suppose, a young lad by yourself, no rent to pay, probably about 2, maybe three galleons a week."

"I actually have a baby nephew," Harry said.

"Probably 3 galleons then" Mathius reckoned, "though it'll go up as the lad gets older. My sister-in-law, Margaret Prewett, feeds a family of 5 for just over four galleons a week, though she does have a mighty fine vegetable garden and good laying hens."

Harry thought things through a bit more. _If things cost me about 3 galleons a week, I can survive without a job for about 6 months, maybe a bit more. Surely that'll be enough time to get settled with a baby and find a job._

"If you could get me an accurate quote, I'd like to get the whole place fixed up. Now, I really have to be getting on, it's already almost five. I have to get my nephew from the orphanage."

Mathius agreed to write Harry up a quote and Owl it to him the next day. Then, if acceptable, they'd sign the paperwork and get the reconstruction underway.

Five o' clock saw Harry once more outside the front of the orphanage. He rang the doorbell, waiting for Mrs. Cole to answer. Instead, an older woman answered the door. "Can I help you?" she sneered at him. Taken aback by the unfriendly greeting, Harry replied, "I have an appointment to see Mrs. Cole, about my nephew, Tom."

The woman sneered at him again as she ushered him into the building. "Ah yes, the mysterious uncle. I'm afraid that Mrs. Cole was above her station when she said that you could just take him. There wasn't even any check of identification. A young man like yourself could have many a nefarious purpose, absconding with a young boy," the woman said.

"Now see here," Harry started, "I don't know what you're insinuating, but I assure you, I am taking Tom with me today. I have already signed for him, and paid quite a sum of money for his upkeep until now, and have spent the last day re organising my life to include Tom in it. Now, I'll no longer deal with you. Take me to Mrs. Cole and my nephew!"

Harry hoped his bluster and bravado would work. Thankfully, whilst at Gringotts yesterday, Bonesnapper had provided him with identity papers for the muggle world, as well as for the wizarding world. It seemed the return of goblin artifacts dramatically sweetened goblin disposition. The woman, who had still not pro-offered a name, hissed at him, "Your kind will get what's coming to 'em. Prancing about, waving your sticks. Looking down on the rest of us. Oh, yes, I know what you are. And what that pallid bitch was too. Not to hardy without your wands though. Couldn't stop the bleeding, and I was conveniently unable to hear her pleas for assistance. One less witch in the world, and the Lord will rejoice."

Harry was horrified. The truth of the death of Merope, denied medical assistance by an insane muggle (or squib). Then Tom grew up with this harridan. God, no wonder he turned evil!

"I'll see you pay for Merope's death. Mrs. Cole, Mrs. Cole. Harry Ashby here to see Mrs. Cole," he yelled.

There was the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. "Oh Harry, there you are. I was wondering if you were ever going to return."

"Mrs. Cole. I left a note yesterday, stating my intention to collect Tom today. Did you not get it?"

"No, there was no note. I honestly thought that you had washed your hands with him, after giving us a donation for his care. I am glad though that you returned. It is important for children to be with family. Oh, have you met Ms. Malfay. She's the assistant director of this and St Bart's orphanage on the east side of London. She's been visiting us since you left on Wednesday."

Harry turned to look at the bitter woman, Ms. Malfay. _Malfay, greying blonde hair and grey eyes. Malfay, more like Malfoy. So, resentful squib relative of the Malfoy's, out for revenge against all wizards. Still a bitch._

"Yes, she'd just finished telling me of the night Tom was born," Harry replied.

Mrs. Cole nodded. "Yes, tragic. It was bitterly cold, and I was stuck in the blizzard after visiting with my late husband's family for Christmas. Ms. Malfay was here all by herself when your sister appeared. Helped her deliver the babe, but was unable to help your sister. So tragic."

Harry coughed and Malfay glared at him, as if daring him to say something. Realising there was nothing he could do now to avenge Merope, he let it lie. The important thing was getting Tom away from her. "Yes, she'd said. Now, can I have Tom now?"

Mrs. Cole looked a bit embarrassed. "Yes, well, come to the office." Harry, Mrs. Cole and Ms. Malfay all went to the office, where Ms. Malfay took the seat on the opposite side of the desk to Harry, leaving Mrs. Cole to stand. "Your application for custody is incomplete. You have provided no proof as to the relationship between yourself and Merope Riddle. There is no forwarding address, no proof of income or proof of your own identity. All must be provided before I'd let such a _special_ boy out of my care." Ms. Malfay stated.

Mrs. Cole looked like she was about to interrupt, but Ms. Malfay silenced her with a glare. Harry leant forward and placed a pile of documents on the desk.

"My birth papers, stating my name, age and date of birth. (Harry had had the goblins make this up, and had changed his birth date, so that he was 18. His new birth date was 12 November, 1909.) There is also a birth certificate for Merope Ashby, three years older than me, a postal address to the village post office in Dittisham and a bank statement from Lloyds Bank declaring me to have an inheritance of 3000 pounds sterling in my account, (Gringotts had dealings with Lloyd's, so the statement was a muggle version of his own Gringott's holdings)" Harry stated.

Ms. Malfay took up the papers and looked through them; her scowl darkening with each page she read. After some shuffling, some sniffing and stalling, Ms. Malfay put the papers down on the desk. "Well, you certainly have been thorough. _If _ this is correct, then you are, of course, free to take the child today. But it is five fifteen, almost close of business.."

"You can call Lloyds now. They're open until half past", Harry interrupted.

Ms. Malfay sniffed again. "Very well." She went to the wall where a large telephone was mounted. She picked up the telephone. "Operator, I require a line to Lloyds of London. Yes, I'll hold. Thank you. "Hello, Lloyds Bank? Yes, I have a query about a supposed account in the name of Harry Ashby. Yes. Yes. Really. I see. Thank you for your time. Goodbye." Ms. Malfay hung up the telephone and sat back down at the desk. 'It appears that your name and account are correct with the bank. However, …" she began, before being cut off by Mrs. Cole. "Really, you are dragging this out so. Do you have a particular gripe with Mr. Ashby, Ms. Malfay?"

"You'll mind your manners missy, or I'll see you reported! Go and get the brat. The papers are fine." Ms. Malfay spat out, glaring once more at Harry before sweeping out the room.

Mrs. Cole began apologising profusely to Harry. "Honestly, I don't know what's come over her. She's normally terribly formal, but not rude like this. Would you like to come with me to get Tom?" They both jumped at the sudden slamming of the front door. Upstairs, children began to wail. "Yes I'd better. You're not alone her now are you?"

"No, no. There are a couple of girls who alternate care between the youngsters and the older children. Now, this is the baby room. We only have 6 babies here at the moment. Tom's in the cot by the corner."

Harry crossed the room. It was plain. White walls, plain cots. Nothing to stimulate a child, but it was clean. Tom lay on his back, swaddled tightly in a blanket. He was wiggling impotently, wailing alongside the others, in his displeasure at being awoken. "Pick him up, support his head. There. Now rest his head in the crook of your arm. You can loosen the blankets a bit if you'd like. Let him wave his fists about. It's about all he can do at his age," Mrs. Cole said from across the room, as she successfully began settling the other babies.

Taking a deep breath, Harry picked up Tom. He freed his hands and began to gently pat him on the bottom. "There there. Shush. Its okay. The evil woman has gone. You'll soon be out of here. Sshhh." Tom slowly began to settle down. The tears stopped rolling down his cheeks. They stared at each other, dark eyes met green, and a moment was shared between them. "I promise, I'll do my best to care for you Tom," Harry whispered, "you're just a baby. Just a baby." Tom sighed and began rooting around at Harry's chest. "Look he's hungry. There, I've got the others settled, we'll go to the kitchen and you can give him a small bottle, to tide him over until you get back to where you're staying. Martha, please keep an ear out for the babes." Mrs. Cole said as she escorted Harry and Tom towards the kitchen. She sat Harry down in a chair, and went to the cool box. "We give the baby's fresh cow's milk. We get it delivered every day. Its not mother's milk, but there's nothing else. Here, test its temperature on your wrist. Now offer it to Tom."

Harry took the bottle and dutifully shook some milk drops onto his wrist before placing the teat at Tom's mouth. Tom snatched at it hungrily and began suckling. "Such a change from usual. Its often hard to get him to drink. He must feel safe with you. We thought we'd lose him a few times," Mrs. Cole said.

Harry nodded, fascinated by the little person in his arms. Tom had stopped sucking, and had fallen asleep again. "They do that dear. Sometimes they get tired from drinking. Try slipping it out his mouth, there that's woken him up," as Tom began sucking once more.

Within a short time he'd finished. Mrs. Cole gave Harry a bag with a cloth diaper in it to take with him. Harry wrapped Tom up in the blanket he'd brought, (Blue with tiny embroidered golden snidgets) and they were shown the door by Mrs. Cole.

"Thanks for your help Mrs. Cole. I really appreciate it. And I hope you don't get any trouble from that harridan Ms. Malfay," he said.

"That's quite all right Harry. And please, call me Beatrice. Also, if you'd like to send word of Tom as he grows up, I'd appreciate it. I've grown fond of him."

Harry assured her that he would, and after saying a final farewell, strode off into the darkening night to find an appropriate place to apparate.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

**Disclaimer: **JK Rowling owns everything you recognise. Please don't sue me.

AN: The conversation between Harry and Vesta is very similar to one I had with my husband, when trying to explain to him exactly how I 'bounced' to settle our daughter when she had colic. Alas he never learnt, and was just amusing to watch. Thankfully our son never had colic so there was no repeat of his ungainly movements.

This chapter will be very short, as it just deals with the first night at home.

Vesta met Harry at the door to the flat.

"Oh there he is the poor dear. You were gone quite a while Harry. Was there a hold up?"

"A squib Malfoy I believe. Had a huge grudge against wizards and went out of her way to make it hard for me to take Tom. She also virtually admitted that she had caused the death of Merope-umm, my sister."

Tom's screams continued.

"Sshh shhh. Vesta, I don't know what to do. Ever since I apparated him here he's been crying his head off. I'm surprised that you didn't hear him as we came up the alley. I just can't get him to stop. Beatrice, the orphanage matron said he rarely cried but its all he's done with me."

"You apparated! With a baby! No wonder he's screaming. The sensation alone….Give him here. Oh the poor dear. You should never apparate with babies. Too much risk of splinching. There, there Tommy. Sshh. See Harry, the way I'm bouncing. Constant movements up and down, side to side. It's very soothing. My Hector, he could never get the hang of it. Said it was the way a woman was built, but as a single parent, you'll need to find a method of soothing him. Here, he's settling a bit. You have a try."

Harry carefully took Tom back from Vesta and tried to imitate her movements. "Not so bouncy. Make it smoother. Not both legs, kind of jiggle up and down on one. Yes, that's better. And nonsense words help too. Now, does he need anything before we get him settled down? Have you had dinner? I could whip you up an omelet."

Harry nodded his thanks for the suggestion of food and kept up the bouncing. After a short while Tom began to settle down and start rubbing his eyes, and pulling at his ears.

"Poor dear's all worn out. See how he keeps grabbing his ears. A classic sign of tiredness. At his age, he should only be up for about an hour at a time. Then try to get him to nap. His awake time will increase as he gets older. Why don't you get him out of those horrible muggle things and get him ready for bed. Might want to give him a bath too. Muggle orphanages aren't the cleanest places. I'll help you get him settled, give you a few tips, then I must be off. Hector will think I've run off with you." Vesta said with a giggle.

Harry nodded thankfully for the help and lay Tom down on this bed to take his clothes off. Tom looked sleepily up at Harry and Harry once more pondered what he was doing. This baby murdered his parents, murdered Cedric, tortured and killed so many people over such a long time. Yet at the same time, it wasn't _this_ baby. _God, time-travel is confusing_, Harry thought to himself.

"Harry dear, I've filled up the sink. Have you stripped Tommy's clothes off yet?"

"Coming Vesta," He answered, thoughts temporarily banished from his mind.

Vesta then spent some time showing and assisting Harry in the best ways to hold a wet baby in the water, how to dry and powder him before putting on a nappy and how to get some clothes back on him and swaddle him ready for bed.

"I'll just hold him for a moment Harry, while you go make him a bottle. Oh he's so cute. I cant wait until I get Grandchildren. All the benefits of a baby, with none of the disincentives."

Harry chuckled at this as he made up the bottle. So far, apart from the crying after apparation, Tom had been a great baby. Easy to clean, easy to feed and a quiet temperament. Looking after a baby wasn't too hard.

"Wahhhh, wahhhhh." Four hours later, Harry realised that babies weren't always easy. Tom had been rather unimpressed with the milk supply from the wizarding world. Or rather, the milk didn't agree with his tummy, for Tom had glugged it down quickly enough. He'd slept for about 20 minutes, during which time Vesta had had an omelet with Harry, but shortly after she'd left, he'd started crying and wouldn't shut up. Harry had jiggled, wiggled, bounced, cooed, made soothing sounds and nonsense words. He'd given Tom a sip of colic calmer, taken a larger swig of calming potion for himself. Tom just wasn't happy. Harry paced the floor throughout the night.

"Sshh. Please just shush," he'd beg, but Tom wasn't listening. After 3 hours, Harry snapped.

"God, I hate you so much. Why won't you just SHUT UP! Shut up, shut up! I need to sleep. You need to sleep. I could have killed you rather than adopt you. You're horrible, and evil and…smelly. Really, really smelly." Apparently the self cleaning nappies could only handle so much. Harry settled Tom on the bed, where he continued to thrash his arms and legs around and attempted to change the nappy. "Scourify". A few cleaning, and air freshening charms later, Tom was clean. His wails had turned to whimpers, tears dripped slowly down his cheeks. Harry's hair was messier than ever, he had an unidentified smear down the back of his shirt and was bone tired.

"Okay little man, just let me sit down in the armchair for a minute. Ssshhh. It's ok. (Yawn) Just let me close by eyes, now you're a bit quieter." Harry closed his eyes, his head lolled back. Tom lay reclined on his chest, with his arms tightly holding him. Tom snuggled up against Harry and they both, finally, fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

AN: The owl that Harry ends up buying looks like the one found on this page:

AN: The owl that Harry ends up buying looks like the one found on this page:

/image.php?imagespecies-Asio-otus-3 or here:

/image.php?imagespecies-Asio-otus-2

**Chapter Six**

The next week and a half passed in a blur for Harry. It took Tom a while to get used to the difference between cows milk; which he was fed at the orphanage, to wizarding baby milk; which was specially formulated for babies. It also took Harry a while to get used to caring for a baby, though Vesta frequently came around in the afternoons for a chat and a cuddle; with Tom, not Harry. Harry would often have bad days, where he would cry because he missed his friends, didn't know what he was doing and felt alone. Harry had also come to the realisation that the people he missed most were actually Hermione, Ron and Luna. His thoughts about Ginny made him realise that he was really only with her because of her connection to the Weasley's. If he was totally honest with himself, their personalities were completely different and they wanted different things. Harry had spent some time while Tom was sleeping to write and plan what he was going to do in this new life as Harry Ashby. Harry had basic history knowledge from his muggle school years and could remember that the Great Depression occurred in the 1930s, though he wasn't sure how it would impact on wizarding society. Thus, he decided that he needed to be as self sufficient as possible. He realised that Bolton Farm had enough land for him to make a modest enough living for himself and Tom, so Harry had purchased a book from Flourish and Blotts about Magical Farming. It was able to give him plenty of information about keeping chickens, rabbits, pigs and agriculture, as well as pest control like keeping out foxes from hen houses and rabbit hutches. He had also bought a few interesting looking books on transfiguration, household charms for cooking and cleaning, Herbology: grow your own potions ingredients and an arithmancy text, which he found relatively simple to follow. He remembered that Hermione had told him that arithmancy was quite simple for muggle math's educated people, but hadn't believed her in third year when choosing subjects. He read them all through quite thoroughly, and hoped that that reading, combined with his other knowledge would be sufficient for taking his OWLS next week.

Harry had Tommy bundled up in a little woolen robe and booties and was getting ready to wheel him in his perambulator (from the second hand store on the corner of Knockturn Alley, 8 sickles, just needed a bit of work) to visit Vesta at the candle store. He also planned to make a stop at Prewett and Picks, to see how things were progressing on the house.

"Morning Vesta. I thought we'd come visit you for a change," Harry called out as he entered the shop. It was very nicely organised, with candles of many varieties decorating the walls and shelves, along with candelabras, chandeliers, and candle stick holders. There were coloured candles, plain candles, scented candles, ritual candles, fat ones, thin ones, oddly shaped ones and some really cheap ones that the poor could get. It reminded Harry a lot of some of the fancy candle shops in the shopping centre at Greater Wingeing.

"Oh Harry, have you brought Tommy boy to see me. How lovely. My Dawn, you haven't met her have you? She arrived here yesterday, it's why I didn't make it round for a visit. Anyway, Dawn here has come back to London to stay. Isn't that wonderful," Vesta said as she pulled along a young woman from the back of the shop. Dawn appeared to be in her early twenties, had blonde hair, brown eyes and was quite curvy.

"Hello, I'm Dawn. My mother has told me a lot about you. I have to say I am impressed that a young man like yourself would be willing to take responsibility for your son," Dawn said as she stepped forward to shake Harry's hand.

"Oh no, he's not my son. He's my nephew." Harry replied.

"Uhuh. Nephew. If you say so," Dawn said suspiciously, "If you're going to look after him, you may as well own up to his paternity."

"Tommy's not mine! Honestly. His mother was Merope Ashby, my sister. His father was a muggle who doesn't want him. I'm bringing him up as he's family." Harry was quite indignant. Who was this witch to question his word. Even if it was a whole pile of lies. "Tom means a lot to me and I dislike your aspersions towards me and him. Perhaps Vesta I'll come back later," and he turned to leave.

"Hold up, I'm sorry. I've just met men here in London who are not as kind as you are to their kids, or nephews in your case. I thought you were hiding his legitimacy. Don't blame Mum, she thinks the world of you two."

Harry turned back to Dawn. She did look sincere, even if her tone was a bit bitter. The answer soon presented itself. "Mama, Nanny. Asta waken up. Want biccy. Please." A little brunette girl toddled in from the back room of the shop. She was about 3 years old and was rubbing sleepy out of her eyes. She stopped suddenly as she saw Harry. "Who you? Got biccy?" Dawn swept her up into her arms. "Little girls don't get biscuits until after they've had their milk," Dawn turned back to Harry, "This is Asta, my daughter. Asta, this is Mr. Ashby and his nephew Tom. Can you say hello to Mr. Ashby and Tom?"

Asta nodded brightly and said hello. "See baby? Please." Dawn looked to Harry for permission. Harry nodded. "It's alright, just be careful, he's very little. Vesta though can tell you that I was a complete beginner when it came to babies, so if Tom has survived me, he'll survive being prodded by Asta."

Vesta chuckled and agreed. The adults looked on indulgently as Asta babbled away to Tom, only one word in three making sense. "So Harry, what did you come in for?" Vesta asked.

Harry got out his shopping list and explained, "I'd like some new candles for my farm. Hopefully, we'll be able to move in in just over a fortnight. I was also wondering if there was anyone in the area I could pay to look after Tommy while I sit my exams in a few days. It'll be pretty full on. The timetable owled to me had two or three exams a day for five days straight. Thankfully because I'm sitting privately, I should get my results pretty quickly, which will help me find a job. Though I don't know what I'll do with Tom then either."

"I could probably look after him for a few days Harry. Monday and Tuesday are rather quiet days, we can pop him out the back in his pram and I can keep an eye on him" Vesta offered.  
"And if you don't hate me for my remarks earlier, I could sit for him at the flat the other days. Unfortunately though, I would have to charge you. Sorry, but I need every knut I can get."

Harry thoughtfully gazed at Dawn. He gathered she cared deeply for her daughter, but it didn't look like there was a man in the picture. In fact, she seemed bitter about men and children, which could mean that Asta's dad left them. "I can afford to give 2 sickles a day. Would that do?" Harry asked. Dawn quite happily agreed and it was decided that she would take care of Tom for the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Harry offered Vesta the same amount. "Don't be silly. I think of Tommy as my grandchild now too. You're a good boy. Save your sickles for something else." Harry thanked Vesta and Dawn, made his candle purchases (which he suspected he was undercharged for) and made his way with Tom to Prewett and Picks.

It was a warmer day in the alley today. It was the beginning of February, but the sun was making its way out from behind the clouds, and the good weather had tempted out many shoppers, so Diagon Alley had quite a crowd. Harry took his time, still unsteady with wheeling a pram, pausing occasionally to peer in shop windows. After leisurely browsing, they arrived at the architects. Mathius greeted him warmly.

"Harry, good to see you. Oh, and this must be your young nephew. Fine boy, strong grip," for Tom was holding tightly to Mathius's finger. "I suppose you're here about the house. Come in, sit down. Now, the greenhouse is completely finished. Quite simple, though it did come in slightly over budget. There was some new charms for the glass panels, added an extra 2 galleons to the job, but well worth it in the long run. I got a bargain on slate, though it's a different colour than the previous roof, and we got that on the roof yesterday. Walter is there now, overseeing the wall painting and establishing a floo connection. I've got the paperwork for you here. Just calling it Bolton Farm for now. You can change the password later if you'd like. There's been a small hold up with the barn, the boys I want to do the thatching aren't available until late next week, but the inside has been remodeled. There are some samples here for you to look at. Tiles, carpet and curtains. If you could take a look and let us know what you'd like in each room."

Harry took the sample book from Mathius and flipped through it. For his bedroom, which had green walls, he decided on a cream carpet, Tom's room was blue with a darker grey carpet, to keep stains from showing. The other four bedrooms were cream walls with brown carpet. For the kitchen and laundry, Harry chose terracotta floor tiles and creamy tiles for the bathrooms. For curtains, he just decided to get colours that matched the rooms; Green for him, navy for Tom, and either cream or brown for the rest. The lounge and dining rooms had floor length crimson curtains, made from heavy velvet, cream carpets and a golden cream paint on the walls. This was to accompany the dark wooden furniture he was moving in from the Evangelos vault.

"Did you want to have a look at the house today?" Mathius asked. Harry declined. The floo wasn't quite ready and he'd learnt his lesson about apparating babies. He made an appointment to view the house the following Friday afternoon, as his last exam that day finished at 4. It would also give Mathius and Walter more time to make the house as close to ready as possible. Harry was also told that as the work was going so smoothly, he would definitely be able to move in by Valentines Day. Harry thanked Mathius and he went o his way. He stopped off at Gringotts to check his vault balance, (98 galleons, 64 sickles and 53 knuts), had Tom added to his will, (at a coast of 1 sickle) then began to make his way back to the flat. On the way, he decided to stop at the apothecary. He was running low on ready made calming potion (Tom's colic had taken its toll) and needed some more. Looking around he noticed the sparseness of ingredients in the shop. What ingredients that were available were quite common and more expensive that he'd thought. It gave Harry something to think about. Maybe he could grow some of the more dangerous, and thus more profitable plants in the greenhouse. Harry purchased his calming potion and left in thought. While he'd never been particularly enamored with herbology at Hogwarts with Professor Sprout, he did quite a bit of gardening for his Aunt Petunia. It was one of the few chores he could take pride in. It was a possibility.

Harry continued his wanderings down the various alleys of wizarding London. He'd never been this free to explore before. Whilst previously all he'd ever known about were Diagon and Knockturn Alleys, there was also Fraction Alley, which was a more residential area, Increment Alley, Vertical Alley and Historic Alley. Historic Alley contained some of the more expensive stores and an up market restaurant, Vertical Alley contained more businesses than shops, with wizarding private detectives, a private healing clinic and Prewett and Picks were on this Alley. Interestingly, Knockturn Alley, while shabby and run down, didn't have the reputation as a dark place now. It was in fact, the street on which Harry bought the second hand pram, and the shop also had some furniture that Harry wanted to take a closer look at another day, prior to moving in to Bolton Farm. Harry rather enjoyed his walk and it was one more thing that was making him see that living in this time was good for him. Here he was no one special, so everyone he met saw him simply as Harry Ashby, uncle to Tom Ashby; the bastard son of his 'sister' Merope. His new life was shaping up well, and Harry began to realise that things weren't so bad, even if the price of his new happiness was the loss of Ron and Hermione. The last shop on the street Increment Alley , which intersected with the residential Fraction Alley at the other end to Diagon Alley was an animal shop of sorts. Called Etnie's Exotic Emporium, the shop had a variety of magical animals and birds for sale. Inside were Kneazles, Mokes, Owls of every variety from Europe and a few from further abroad, Jobberknolls, Fwoopers (under silencing charms), Ashwinders in a enclosure containing a brightly burning green fire, crups, salamanders, and a plethora of snakes, including a couple of runespoors. Stepping inside, Harry was amazed at what was available. He hadn't had an animal friend since Hedwig died. He took a look at the owls, his chest constricting at the sight of some Snowy's. No, he couldn't get another Snowy Owl yet. He walked along the wall containing the various owls in cages or perches. Little Pygmy owls, Scoops owls, Barn owls. There was also a funny fellow on his own, at the end of the row. Grey, orange and brown with orange eyes and large tuffs that look like ears, it was quite a comical looking owl. As Harry approached, it sat up straight and began bobbing its head up and down. Tom gurgled and reached his hand upwards towards it. The shop clerk took this opportunity to approach Harry.

"It's a fine specimen of an owl. Are you interested?"

Harry thought it over. He could do with an owl, to hunt mice in his barn, as well as to post letters to, well he hoped he'd find some friends at a later date. He could always post letters to Vesta, she'd become like an honorary Aunt to him over the past couple of weeks. Always warm, friendly and helpful, he knew he'd miss her when he moved. Also, an owl would be useful for ordering things by post, and correspondence with the ministry and collecting newspapers.

"Yes, possibly. What type of owl is this one?" Harry asked, pointing at the owl with long ears.

"He's known as a long-eared owl. Specially bred to be diurnal, unlike their non-magical counterparts. Like to hunt in cleared lands though they prefer to nest in tree and forests. Not normally a city bird. Live quite a while, the oldest I've known has lived 20 years, though the non-magical ones normally only make 10. This boy has been here a while. We normally sell them at four months, so they've left their parents and had a bit of training, but nobody has wanted this guy. He's about 7 months old now. Very friendly, a bit of a joker. Likes to pull on hair. He costs 28 sickles. A bit pricier than your common barn owl, plus as he's older has had more postal training. Or we do have Barn owls for 12 sickles, Scoops for 11 knuts."

"I'll take this one thanks," Harry said firmly. He also purchased some owl pellets, and a supply of mice and rats to supplement his hunting. Before he left, Harry also had a look at some of the species that could be used for potions ingredients, either themselves or by-products. He resolved that if he went with becoming an independent ingredients supplier, that he would use his parseltongue ability with runespoors, whose eggs are valuable, as well as other varieties of snakes whose venom, eggs and sheddings could be sold. Finally, after telling the owl the address to fly to (No. 2 Fraction Alley), he and Tom walked back to the flat. On the doorstep was a covered plate of biscuits and a note.

Mr. Ashby,

Please accept these as a further apology for my rudeness this morning. Asta and I had quite a lot of fun making them. I'm sorry there are only 11 left, Asta ate one while my back was turned. Perhaps we could catch up before Monday so I can get to know Tom before I start sitting for him.

Dawn Williams

Munching on a biscuit, Harry thought that a friendship, perhaps more, with Dawn had great possibilities.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

**AN:** This chapter just wouldn't flow. I'm sorry if it's boring. I keep worrying about introducing new characters in case I get yelled at about Mary Sue's.

The morning of February 4th was lovely. For a change, the sky was cloud free, the sun shone and all was peaceful.

"Bloody hell, where did I put my quills? And the sandwich I made. Hell. Oh Tom, why did you spit up on me? Scourify. Bag, quills, yes. Lunch, lunch. Where's my lunch? Oh right. In the cooler, where else? Nappies, bottles, toys. All right Tommy, time to go visit Auntie Vesta."

Harry hurried out the door. It was a quarter past eight and his first exam, Charms, was at 9:00. Vesta was watching Tom for him today and tomorrow, before Dawn took over for the rest of the week. About five minutes later, Harry was back in the flat. "Could have told me I was still wearing pajamas, Tom" Harry winged. It had been quite embarrassing. He'd gotten a couple of doors down when a witch wolf whistled at him. It was then he realised that he was still wearing pajamas: blue with golden snitches flying around, a present from Vesta. Finally, at 8:30, Harry was at Vista's shop, giving her the run down on Tom's daily schedule. "He's had his morning bottle. He'll need a nap in about half an hour. There are several more bottles in his bag. I've packed his favourite rattle, and his soft bunny rug, and his squishy snake. There are some dummies in his bag too with sterilising charms on them. He likes to suck on one as he drifts off."

Vesta looked quite amused with Harry's directions. "Where is the poor boy that couldn't stop his son from crying? I am so proud. And you're so late. Shoo. We'll be fine. Dawn and Asta are popping over around lunch to see Tommy. Work hard."

Harry grinned in chagrin. This was the woman who had taught him all he needed about baby care. He thanked her once again and left the store to apparate to the visitor's entrance to the ministry. After going through the wand registration, he was directed to level 6, room 14, where he would meet up with the examiner. He waited for a few minutes outside the exam room when a witch approached him. She was old, in her 70's, wearing a green robe, with small pearl earrings and a golden locket around her neck. Her hair was salt and pepper, and tied back into a bun. "Mr. Ashby? I'm Isla Hitchens. I'll be your examiner today for your Charms theory and practical exams. The first, theory, will begin shortly. It will take approximately two hours to complete. We will then take a half hour break for lunch, before commencing with practical Charms. This will also take about two hours. Following that, you'll have a one hour break, from 1:30 until 2:30, and then you will be sitting your Potions theory, a three hour examination, with Sacharissa Tugwood. A young man, Septimus Weasley, will be joining you for this exam. He is home schooled, and when his parents found out about the exams for you, asked permission for him to sit some of them with you. So I believe he will be in your Defence against the Dark Arts exams, Transfiguration and History of Magic exams. I trust that you have no issues with that?"

Harry shook his head. He had no problems having exams with someone else, especially a Weasley. He wondered if Septimus was Ron's grandfather. "That's fine."

"Good, now, take a seat in here. On your desk is a question and answer booklet. You have five minutes reading time. You may begin," said Mrs. Hitchens.

The rest of the day passed in a whirl for Harry. He felt that the Charms exams went well, as did the theory for Potions. Septimus turned out to be a 16 year old boy, with shocking red hair and freckles. He confided in Harry that he hadn't been able to sit his exams the year before because he caught Dragon Pox, and they couldn't afford private exams. While nice enough, Harry found him rather young. Fighting, and then raising Dark Lords really made a person grow up. They parted on friendly terms that evening, and had plans to go to lunch at the Cauldron the next day after their Potions practical. Tom had had a nice time with Vesta. Well, Vesta actually said that he'd spent most of his time on back on the bunny rug sucking furiously on his dummy. But he hadn't caused any trouble and Vesta was happy to watch him again the next day. Harry took him home, and Tom fell asleep to the sound of Harry reading aloud from his textbook. "Confusing and Befuddlement draughts have effects similar to the Confusion Concoction. Ingredients include sneezewort, scurvy-grass, lovage and ginger. Strengthening solution, used to increase the strength of the drinker. Ingredients include salamander blood and pomegranate juice. Needs to mature for 2 days after step seven. Simmer on low heat….."

Harry felt that his Potions exam went well. He had only made a slight error with his Draught of Peace but was very confident about his Draught of Living Death. He had remembered the Prince's advice to crush the sopophorous bean before adding it to the cauldron. He was quite sure that he'd get at least an EE for that part. His afternoon classes were for Care of Magical Creatures, and involved correctly handling Nifflers, bowtrunkles, Porlock and Crups. The theory was a bit harder, with questions pertaining to the various ratings animals held, as well as location, diet and properties of various creatures. He was disappointed to find questions about centaurs under the beast section. Wednesday saw Harry taking Transfiguration theory and practical and Astronomy. For Astronomy, the Ministry had a room set up to look like the night sky, so Harry didn't have to sit the practical part of this subject at night. Thursday had Herbology, which Harry found enjoyable, and strengthened his decision to cultivate Potions ingredients. His final day of exams was for History of Magic, which only actually had three questions about Goblin rebellions. The rest was covering famous witches and wizards, what was invented when and various wars and treaties of the Wizarding world. All in all, it was a thoroughly mentally exhausted Harry who apparated home Friday afternoon.

Dawn looked up at Harry's entrance. "Hello. How'd the last exam go? I just put Tom down for a nap and Asta is at mothers. The kettle's just boiled. Want a cuppa?"

Harry nodded. "God yes. I'm parched! Thinking is very tiring work. But all done know. Ooh, are they some more of your homemade biscuits?"

Dawn smiled, "Yes. Oatmeal and honey. Great with tea. So, what are your plans now that the exams are over? Mum said that you're moving soon?"

Harry munched on a biscuit before swallowing. "Yes. Mathius Prewett and Walter Picks have been renovating an old farmhouse for me out in Devon. I plan on moving next weekend. The house itself will actually be ready by Wednesday, but I'll use the Thursday and Friday to get furniture in. I'm paid up with Vesta until then, so I hope she'll be fine with that."

"Fine with it. She loves you Harry. Thinks you're wonderful for bringing up Tom. She'll miss you when you go, so be sure to invite her round lots, or I'll hex you!"

Harry chuckled. "I'm sure you would. Bloodthirsty wench with a penchant for baking." They both chuckled at that. At five foot 3, Dawn was not the most imposing of figures, though her tongue could get quite scathing, as Harry had found out when she'd talked about Asta's father.

_Flashback_

_After Harry's exam on Wednesday, he'd bought a bottle of wine to share with Dawn. A thank-you-for-helping-a-stranger-in-need type thing. They'd put Tom to sleep and Asta was at her grandmother's so they had sat by the fire, in the old brown armchairs, and had gotten quite tipsy. After a couple of drinks, Harry had confided in Dawn that he'd never actually been with a woman. He'd explained that he'd had a girlfriend, but they hadn't progressed much beyond furtive above clothes groping. "Ginny, she'd always push for more. I'd have been happy to just snog, fool around a bit. She kept trying to put her hands down my pants. I've thought about it since, and she was with a lot of guys before me. Dean, Michael. And she was only 15 when we started dating. It started to make me wonder just how far she'd gone with them. Then, when we were apart, I just, dunno, decided that I didn't really like her that way anymore. What about you? What's the story with Asta's dad?"_

_Dawn had glared at Harry. "Asta's dad was an unmitigated bastard. His name was Arcturus. Blue eyes, dark hair. He bloody- well seduced me. Told me he loved me. Said we'd get married. Gave me a ring and everything. A small diamond and emerald. So we became, intimate. I found out I was pregnant with Asta. I was only seventeen. Three months later I saw him in the newspapers with a woman called Melania McMillan. They were announcing the Wedding of the Year. Black Heir marries daughter of Wizengamot Chief Warlock! I confronted him about it and he laughed. Said 'you don't honestly think we were going to marry? The Black Heir and a shopkeeper's daughter'. I left with him still laughing. I moved up to Edinburgh, had Asta. I worked for a couple of witches, brewing potions, cooking, cleaning. I heard that he had a daughter the year after I'd had Asta, Lucretia. I couldn't come home, everybody knew about Arcturus. They called me a slattern, and such. So, I stayed up north, let the scandal die down. I'm glad I've got Asta, but I'm even gladder to have had my eyes open about men. I'll not be taking another tumble with a man until the ring is firmly on my finger, that's for sure."_

_So Harry had found out that his good friend Vesta was the grandmother of his Godfather's half aunt. The wizarding world is a small world indeed!_

_End Flashback_

So Harry and Dawn had a nice chat over tea and biscuits, then Dawn left at 5pm, to help her Dad close up the shop. Vesta and he were taking Asta for the evening as Dawn was catching up with some of her friends from Hogwarts, reestablishing friendships that had drifted since she'd left London for Edinburgh. Harry and Tom were spending much of the weekend at Bolton Farm, with Harry planning what they'd need to move in.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

AN: I was most disappointed that no one commented on my attempt to weave old canon characters mentioned by J.K into my story. I try for authenticity and no one notices. Sob. Hope that you continue to enjoy reading this. I had not planned this chapter like this at all. When I started writing, it all just changed. Hopefully, the next chapter will address my original plans. Oh and the disclaimer: JK is a goddess, she created this world, and I just play with it.

Harry was once again at Gringotts dealing with Bonesnapper. He'd received a letter asking him to make an appearance at the bank about a matter of his personal finances. Rather perturbed, Harry had once again enlisted Dawn's help in looking after Tom and arrived at the bank at 10 am. Once there, he was ushered into a back office to meet with Bonesnapper.

"Harry, I'm pleased to see you again, and I commend you on your house refurbishments. I took a look at the farm a couple of days ago, to ensure that the money removed from your account was being correctly used. I didn't want a Goblin Friend cheated." Bonesnapper grinned at Harry, his crooked teeth quite a disturbing sight to behold.

"A Goblin Friend? Is that important? And my finances, do I have a problem, have I overspent?" Harry asked worriedly.

"Yes, Goblin Friend. After our last meeting when you returned our artifacts, the clan chief declared that a wizard who would willingly return to us our treasures with no talk of recompense was indeed a true Goblin Friend. It means little except more genial relations between us. It is more of a symbolic acknowledgment of your esteem in goblin eyes. As to the finances. A goblin would not usually notify their clients of this, but as you are a Friend…When we were emptying the Peverell vault, we found a key. An unnumbered key. After much searching, we discovered that this key was, in fact, a key to a vault on level four. This means nothing to you I'm sure. However, in this vault were a number of uncut jewels. Now, as usual, Gringotts has charged you a finder's fee for recovering this for you. Now, if you'd like to liquidate these gems and convert them to galleons, Gringotts would be happy to do so. We have valued them at 378 Galleons, 13 sickles and 4 knuts. Because you are a Friend, and we have already charged you a finder's fee, we would waive the conversion costs. Or, you could keep the gems as they are. So, that is why you are here."

Harry sat dumbstruck. He had gotten quite used to the prices of things in 1927 and was taken aback but such a large sum of money. After buying furniture and supplies the past couple of days, his bank account was starting to look quite small; only about 50 galleons left. An influx of 378 galleons would have him set up for, well not life, but a long time if he made no extravagant purchases.

"Um, yeah. That sounds fine. Sell, liquidate. Money is good," he managed to say somewhat incoherently. Bonesnapper chuckled.

"Yes indeed, Mr. Ashby, money is good. A very goblin-like sentiment. So, we will carry out that transaction and deposit the funds into your vault as soon as possible. Oh, there is one other thing." Bonesnapper snapped his fingers. (As in, he clicked. No violence here.) An elf appeared. He had large greenish-yellow eyes and his nose was long and thin. His skin was pale with a greenish cast to it. He was young; Harry had never seen an elf so small.

"This elf, Bobby, feels that he belongs to you. His parents Aimee and Tobby were both Malfoy elves, but he has refused to bond to Cygnus Malfoy and the Malfoy family. Any ideas why?"

Harry gulped. Bobby. Tobby. Sounds like Dobby.

Flashback

'_Dobby, no, don't die, don't die - ' _

_The elf's eyes found him, and his lips trembled with the effort to form words._

'_Harry…Potter…'_

End Flashback (excerpt from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, p. 385)

"There may be a reason. What does Bobby say?"

"Bobby just be's knowing that there are two masters that Bobby could be bonding to. Master Cygnus or Master Harry. Bobby has been watching Master Cygnus and he's not liking what he's seeing. Bobby thinks Master Cygnus is a bad wizard. So, when Bobby was told it was time to bond with his master, Bobby said no. Bobby wants his Master Harry to be the Master," the elf, Bobby explained.

"Ok, but, I don't know much about Elves. How are you bound to a master?" Harry asked.

Bonesnapper reentered the conversation. "House elves can live quite a long time. They mature quite rapidly, and are bonded to the head of their Family at one year of age. Elves generally remain within one family, occasionally with another if they are transferred as part of a dowry or other transaction. They have a very strong affinity to that family, and young elves will almost always bond to the family that their parents serve. The bonding ceremony involves a mingling of blood between elf and master and the desire to serve. It is rare that the elf would have more than one master to chose from. Especially as both his parents are Malfoy elves and there is no family connection between the Potters and the Malfoy's."

Harry's head snapped up. "Potter's. Why would you mention them? I'm an Ashby."

Bonesnapper frowned at Harry. "I thought there would be more honesty between us. The inheritance chart never lies. It stated that your name was in fact, Harry James Potter Ashby. I don't know how that came to be, but you are undoubtedly a Potter. Possibly a bastard. But you have the look. All male Potter's look the same. Just like all Malfoy males are blonde and Black males have grey eyes."

"A bastard. I never knew my grandparents. They could have had an affair with a Potter."

"Or, you could have traveled from the future, rewriting time, and thus be a Potter of legitimacy that way." Bonesnapper added.

Harry sat down and put his head between his hands. "Oh god. What do you know?"

Bonesnapper sat down at the desk again opposite Harry. Bobby the elf moved away to the corner, sensing that this conversation was important and not to be disturbed.

"Goblin auguries foresaw possible destruction on the night of December 31 1926. Then, a little over three weeks later, a massive shock wave was felt by all the diviners and they saw this destruction averted. Now, a number of prophecies have ceased to be relevant. We were unsure of why, and then you came for your inheritance check and we knew. Now, don't worry. We will not interfere. New auguries have foreseen great prosperity for Goblins since your arrival. Time has fixed itself. You are now Harry Ashby. Just know that we know that you were once Harry Potter. Whoever that was."

Harry sighed in relief. "Yes. I did travel through time unintentionally. And I'm glad that disaster has been averted. I'm from…"

Bonesnapper interrupted, "it is not necessary for you to tell me. In fact, I don't want to know. Besides, your future is gone now. You have only the present. We'll leave it at that. As a token though, we, the goblins, have affirmed your current identity and created appropriate documents that have been lodged with the muggle authorities. You **are** Harry Ashby now. Now, the elf presumably has a connection from the future. Will you accept his service or will he bond with the Malfoy's?"

Bobby perked up when he heard his name spoken. "Bobby wishes most honorable Harry Ashby be Bobby's Master. Please!"

Harry nodded his head. If he failed to bond with Bobby, then he'd most probably be abused by the Malfoy's, as indicated by Dobby's former treatment.

Bonesnapper produced a silver knife and swiftly cut Harry and Bobby's thumb. Bobby pressed his thumb against Harry's and said, "I be binding myself and my family to the House Of Ashby."

There was a flash of white light and both elf and wizard felt the connection formed. Their thumbs had healed.

"Thank you Master Harry. What do you be wanting Bobby to be doing?"

In a daze, Harry just asked Bobby to stay with him now, and that they'd sort other things out later. Harry thanked Bonesnapper for the news of the gems and for his confidentiality and together, Bobby and Harry left the office. On the way out of the bank, a haughty blonde wizard in a long blue velvet cloak sneered at Harry.

"You've lost me my servant, boy" the man sneered at Harry.

Harry just shook his head and began laughing. And couldn't stop. "Oh god, you need new lines."

Still laughing, Harry and Bobby left the bank and walked, together, back to the flat to collect Tom and tell Dawn of what occurred (though highly edited) at today's meeting.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**AN: **_Thoughts are in italics,_ Parseltongue is underlined. This is a long chapter as many peole have said they wished they were longer. I've given it my best shot.

Harry and Tom officially moved to Bolton farm on February 16th, two days after his meeting with Bonesnapper and the acquisition of Bobby. The farmhouse had been completely transformed and Harry was very happy with the work that Walter and Mathius had done. The floo network had been set up through the dining room fire place, so that anyone who arrived would be greeted with the cheery cream and red room. Harry had removed the old Evangelos dining suite and placed it in the room, and the dark wood, with the carved firebirds looked especially good against the gold cream paintwork. On February 15th, Harry, Tom and Bobby had toured both Knockturn and Diagon Alley, as well as Harry discretely making a trip to some muggle thrift shops to acquire furnishings. Harry had wanted the house to retain its warm, homey atmosphere, so they had purchased predominantly well maintained second hand wooden furniture. Large four poster beds reminiscent of Hogwarts, heavy desks, solid armchairs and a three-seater covered in brown leather. Toms' room was decorated with a mobile of magical creatures; phoenix, unicorn, dragon and snidget. They'd also bought sheets, blankets, quilts for Harry's and the spare bedrooms, though not Tom's. Harry had remembered hearing that that was bad for babies. A SIDS risk, though that wasn't known in this time.

Bobby had chosen the smallest room in the house, a little loft, for his room. When the house was being fixed up, Harry had had it carpeted and painted, thinking it might be a nice place for Tom to hide in when he was older, but it made a perfect room for a house elf. Bobby felt it was too large and went into raptures of how wonderful Master Harry Ashby was. Harry also bought a very small bed, wardrobe and chair for the room, so that it was exactly like a room fit for a wizard, only smaller. Bobby wore a smart uniform of a bright scarlet pillowcase with a golden firebird embroidered on it. The firebird turned out to be the motif of the Evangelos family so Harry thought it fitting to bring it back. Harry had tried to get Bobby to wear something else, mindful of Hermione and her SPEW attitudes, but Bobby had declared that a proper house elf should wear a pillowcase. So Harry had purchased four, so that Bobby would always have a clean pillowcase. Bobby did though appreciate the socks Harry bought for him, once he understood that they were to be considered part of the uniform and not clothes.

The kitchen was fitted with plenty of pots and pans, gleaming silver on their hooks. The furniture in here was a paler wood, pine. A final splurge for Harry was a clock that he commissioned, fashioned after the Weasley clock that had hands for himself, Tom and Bobby. Bobby wasn't a master cook like the elves at Hogwarts, but he had learned quite a bit, so between him and Harry, they wouldn't be going hungry. There was a small window at the top of the kitchen, near the roof, which was charmed to allow access by postal owls. Next to it was a perch for the owls to rest on. Harry's new owl, now called Balthasar, had decided to take up residence in the barn, though he would often appear in the kitchen, even without post, to receive a friendly pat.

The gardens surrounding the house were barren at present, though Bobby had plans to create a herb bed, as well as a vegetable garden. There were also plenty of bulbs in the ground, ready to sprout once spring arrived. Harry had arranged with Mathius, who lived in the country himself, to purchase a dozen chickens and a rooster for the barn. He decided that he liked the idea of having fresh eggs. Fortunately, the chickens were a magical variety that would lay no matter what the weather was like. So, every morning Harry or Bobby would wander out to the barn and collect the day's offerings of eggs and feed the chickens. They were quite happy to have grain as well as leftovers from the kitchen. From his book on Household Magic, Harry had spelled the property to be free of foxes, so that the chickens wouldn't be slaughtered. Balthasar was under strict orders not to harm the chickens in any way, though he was free to eat as many vermin as he wanted. (Harry would get a silly grin on his face anytime he saw Balthasar disemboweling a rat.) Balthasar would also occasionally bring to the kitchen a freshly killed rabbit, stupid enough to venture into his line of sight. While at first dubious, Harry began to enjoy rabbit stew about once a week, which Bobby flavoured with wild onions, potatoes and carrots.

Twice a week, Harry would travel with Tom either to Diagon Alley to visit with Vesta and Dawn, or to the little village of Dittisham where he would purchase some supplies like meat, tea, flour and vegetables. He also collected milk and cream from there as well. Bobby made bread every other day, so the house often smelt like fresh bread, making it even more wonderfully homey for Harry. This was, in fact, the first place that Harry really felt was home. Privet Drive didn't count, neither did Hogwarts, for as much as he'd loved it, it was a school, not a home. The Weasley's was the closest he'd come, though even then he'd had a feeling of being an outsider. He sometimes wondered whether his desire for a relationship with Ginny was partly due to his desire to become a Weasley family member. Bolton farm though, was all his. And as odd as it may seem, Tom was his family. He rarely thought anymore of Tom's connection to Voldemort. How could you compare the Greatest Dark Lord of the Century with a chubby two month old that slept sucking his thumb and enjoyed peek-a-boo games? No, Tom was now simply Tommy, the nephew/defacto son of Harry Ashby. And Harry Ashby was no one special. Just a bloke looking after his nephew and living on a farm. Together, Harry, Tom and of course, Bobby, had become a small family.

About a month after Harry moved to Bolton farm, he decided to have a dinner party and invite Vesta, her husband Hector, Dawn and Asta. They and Bonesnapper, were really the only people that Harry knew in this time. Well, knew well enough to invite over for dinner. He had kept up an owl correspondence with Septimus, but the two really didn't know each other all that well. They were both eagerly and a little fearfully awaiting the results of the OWLS, which were due any day. It was now late March, and Harry had been in 1927 for three months now. Tommy had recently learned how to roll from his back to his tummy, where he would then grunt and wiggle in an effort to flip back over onto his back. He hadn't yet mastered a full roll. On the morning of the dinner party, Balthasar flew though the kitchen owl window, accompanied by a non-descript brown barn owl. The brown owl deposited an envelope on the table before swooping of again. Harry, who was feeding Tommy at this time, paled as he realised that the envelope was from the Ministry of Magic, Education Department. His OWL results. Bobby cheerfully took over feeding Tommy his bottle, as Harry gingerly opened the letter.

Mr. Ashby

We at the Department of Education are pleased to notify you of the results of your recent Ordinary Wizarding Level Examinations. If you have a dispute with the grades at all, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely

Mr. Jerkins

The next page contained his OWL results.

Potions: Theory: **EE** Practical: **EE**

Combined Mark: **EE**

Transfiguration: Theory: **O** Practical: **EE**

Combined Mark:** EE**

Herbology: Theory: ** EE **Practical: **EE**

Combined Mark: **EE**

Charms: Theory: **O **Practical: ** O**

Combined Mark: **O**

History of Magic: Written exam : ** A**

Astronomy: Theory: **A **Practical: ** EE**

Combined Mark: **A+**

C.O.M.C: Theory: **EE** Practical: **EE**

Combined Mark: **EE**

Defense against the Dart Arts: Theory: **O** practical: **O+ **

Combined Mark: **O+**

**AN: I forgot to put in that he took DADA exam. Obviously Harry would. Please insert into your memory, as I can't be bothered correcting it in the two chapters the exams are mentioned. For the record, Harry takes and passes 8 OWLs, not the previously mentioned 7. **

"Whoohooo!" Harry cried, startling Bobby and Tom. "This is great. Hermione would be so proud! Oh, I wonder how Septimus did. I'll owl him." Harry then picked Tom up and twirled him around the kitchen, before handing him back to Bobby.

"Bobby is pleased that Master Harry did good on his Owlies. Bobby make special cake for dessert tonight to celebrate." Bobby solemnly stated.

Harry grinned and tore off to the study, where he penned a quick letter to Septimus telling of his grades and enquiring how Septimus went. Balthasar flew into the study after Harry and held his leg out for the letter to be tied to, then with a quick caress of Harry's hair; perhaps an owlish version of congratulations, he swooped off.

Bobby insisted that Harry and Tom go out for a while, so that he could get the house ready for the dinner that evening. The Williams' were arriving at 5 pm, so that they could eat quite early so that Asta could take part. As Asta went to bed around 6:30, dinner was going to be early. Asta and Dawn were planning on spending the night in one of the spare rooms, so as not to wake Asta up to go home later. So, at 11 am, Harry and Tom set out for a day out. Harry decided that he felt ready to make the trip up to Hogsmeade. It had been months since he'd seen it, and then, he had been preparing for battle. Ensuring that he had plenty of baby supplies, Harry flooed to The Three Broomsticks, which was operating in this time.

Stepping out of the fireplace, Harry was greeted by the bar maid, an older woman who introduced herself as "Madame Leona, Proprietor of this fine establishment. How can I be of service today?"

Harry ordered a butter beer for himself and sat down to drink it. He unshrunk Tom's perambulator and after finishing the butter beer and tipping Leona, set off to explore Hogsmeade. At first, Harry wheeled Tom down the street, just having a look around, noting changes to his time and generally just seeing what was available. After walking up the street and back. He decided that his first stop would be Gladrags. Inside were a selection of ready made robes, as well as bolts of cloth for custom made robes. There were also accessories in the form of belts, socks, scarves and hats. Looking through the racks, Harry tried on and purchased a robe made from a soft blue material, which was suitable for casual wear. He also bought a couple of baby robes for Tom, in yellow and pale green. As he was paying for his order, he saw a thin, flimsy looking scarf in blue and purple swirls. Thinking that it looked pretty, he decided to buy it as a present for Dawn. Adding it to his purchase, he paid the 1 galleon, 4 sickles and shrunk the bag and put it in the pram. There wasn't a Honeydukes in Hogsmeade, though there was a lolly shop called Fudgepackers. Snorting to himself, he understood why the name might have changed in the future. Entering the shop, he saw trays of home-made fudge, rock candy and chocolate. The shopkeeper, Delia Flume offered him some free samples of fudge. It was delicious, so Harry bought a packet and a large multicoloured lollypop for Asta. He also bought some flavoured beans and a slab of chocolate, both of which would be nice to have at home to snack on. Grinning to himself at the thought of having a home, Harry wasn't watching where he was going and bumped headlong into someone.

"Oh god. I'm so sorry. I…." Harry stopped as he realised just who he had run into. Before him stood a wizard with twinkling blue eyes and a long crooked nose. He had long auburn hair with just a touch of white at the temples and a shortish beard. He was wearing robes of a deep violet colour with silver trim. Quite tasteful really, for Albus Dumbledore.

"Oh sir, I'm so sorry", Harry began.

"Oh think nothing of it young man. Why, when my mind is thinking about sweets, there's no telling what or who I'll walk into. Albus Dumbledore, and you are? I don't believe I've seen you around here, have I? And who is this little man?"

"Oh, umm, I'm Harry Ashby. This is my nephew, Tom. No, I've never met you before, but I have studied your work on the uses of dragon's blood. Oh, and you used to work with Nicholas Flamel didn't you?"

Albus Dumbledore chuckled. "Why, you are a curious young man. Yes, I did research with Nicholas on the 12 uses of dragon's blood. So, Harry, I don't remember teaching you at Hogwarts. Did you attend another school or are you in fact, older than you look?"

"Oh, no. I was home schooled. I'm 18, but I've only just had the opportunity to pass my OWLs. I got the results today." Harry said, his cover story now second nature to him.

"Congratulations then. I hope you did well. My personal favourite was always Transfiguration. How are you at that?"

"Oh, thanks sir. I took 8 OWLs. I got 2 Outstandings, 4 Exceeds Expectations, 1 Acceptable Plus and 1 Acceptable. My best subjects were Charms and DADA. I just missed out on an Outstanding in Transfigurations. I got an O in the theory, but made a mistake with the practical that dropped me down a grade. I do enjoy Transfiguration though. I'd love to be able to become an animagus, but I know how hard it is. Plus there's so much you can do with transfiguration. When I was furnishing the house, I bought second hand furniture, and was able to transfigure some into better pieces. And it's useful in conflict situations; blocking curses and such."

"Well, you do sound interested in Transfiguration. Well done for such good marks. Most home schooled students don't fair as well in their OWLs as school taught students. They don't have as much practice or have a set curriculum. Though you are quite old to have only just sat them. Are you planning on sitting your NEWTs?"

"Um, yeah. I should. I have to wait another two months at least. Though I'm nowhere near ready. I suppose I'll need to find a tutor, but with Tom and setting up my house, I haven't had the time to even think about it."

"Oh, so you're not just looking after Tom for the day, then?"

"No. My sister died in childbirth. Which is something else I haven't gotten around to doing yet. The orphanage director admitted to assisting her death, bragged about it really. I meant to talk to someone about that. Merope could have been alive to bring up Tom herself except that a squib, calling herself Malfay, resented her and when she was bleeding after the birth, just watched her die instead of giving her her wand or even trying muggle methods to stop the bleeding!"

"That is quite a serious accusation. A Malfay, you say. There _was_ a Malfoy child that disappeared when she was eleven. Didn't receive a letter to any of the Magic Schools. It was around the time that I was fifteen, so about 28 or so years ago. Yes, you should definitely talk to an auror about it. But, looking after your nephew yourself, that's quite ambitious for someone of your age. Why haven't your parents or the boys father helped?"

"Tom's father is a muggle who wants nothing to do with him. My parents are dead. There is just Tom and me. Oh, and Bobby, our elf. I have some good friends though, Vesta and Dawn Williams."

"Ah yes, Dawn Williams. Lovely girl. Such a shame what befell her. Was a very promising student. I only taught her in her 7th year, but she was quite a good student. Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff I believe. Prefect."

"Dawn is lovely and so is Asta. It's the idiot's loss that he left Dawn."

"Very protective aren't you. Probably sensitive with your sister. Miss Williams is a fine young woman. It's just a pity that she couldn't realise her ambitions. Now, about a tutor, I'm sure Miss Williams would be able to assist you. She did very well on her NEWTs. If it's a matter of finances, then you could apply to sit them with the Hogwarts students at the end of May. Or there is another testing time in November. Yes, November sounds about right. You should definitely aim to sit your NEWTs by November. In fact, if you'd like, I'd be quite happy to access your work until then, and even pop round occasionally to give you lessons."

"Thank you, but, why would you do that for me? You don't know me? It's very kind and I'd be glad for your help but…"

"Ah my boy, your good nature speaks for itself. You are certainly kind hearted and I would be glad to assist someone who so selflessly looks after their younger relative. Not everyone your age would do so, at least, not without resentment."

Harry shifted uncomfortably, realising that Dumbledore was talking about himself. He decided that this rather odd meeting should come to an end. He was still overwhelmed by seeing Dumbledore again.

"Thank you sir. I would be happy to accept your help whenever you are able to. You can reach me at Bolton Farm. I'm on the floo or you can owl me. I should get going now sir. Oh, and there are a lovely batch of lemon drops in Fudgepackers."

"Lemon drops, I've never tried any. I shall have to heed your recommendation. Good day, Harry."

Albus Dumbledore shook Harry's hand and strode into Fudgepackers. _ 'Lemon drops. He's never tried lemon drops!'_ Harry thought to himself as he made his way back down the street.

**AN: I had to break the chapter here as it got too long. Continued next chapter. **


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

It was now past 1 o'clock and Harry was starting to get quite peckish. He wheeled Tom back towards the Three Broomsticks and took a table outside. Leona came out and took his order, "A ham and cheese toasted sandwich please, with a side of potato and a butter beer. Thanks."

Leona disappeared inside and shortly afterwards, a butterbeer appeared on his table. Harry got Tom's bottle out of his bag and picked Tom up to feed him. Tom snuggled contentedly up to Harry's chest and sucked thirstily on the bottle. After five minutes, he'd finished and Harry put him up against his shoulder to burp him. He patted Tom's back a few times until he heard Tom's burp. He then sat Tom back on his lap and they played a game of peek-a-boo. Tom's eyes would go wide and he'd wriggle a bit whenever Harry 'appeared' from behind his hands. Soon though, Tom began to get sleepy, and as Leona was bringing out Harry's lunch, Harry decided to put Tom back to sleep in the pram.

"Thanks for the sandwich," Harry said. He took a big bite. It was delicious. The poato was hot and it all washed down well with butterbeer. Harry took his time, letting Tom sleep as long as possible. After finishing, he decided to take a quick look inside Scrivenshaft's for some quills and parchment. He bought an eagle feather quill, some black and blue ink and a pad of thick creamy coloured parchment. By this time it was 2:30. Bobby had told Harry not to return until at least 3:30, so he still had some time to kill. As Tom was still sleeping, Harry decided to push the pram along the path towards Hogwarts.

The walk from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts was quite a nice one. The path was quite smooth as it is used by carriages. It skirted past but not though the Forbidden Forest. While it was quite safe, sometimes the forest's denizens would venture out onto the road. This was one such day. It was quite a hot day, and the road was quite dark. Thus it was really quite the perfect place for a young, if somewhat foolish, snake to sunbake on.

"Bloody hell!" Harry cried as he noticed the snake lying directly in his path. "What on earth is a boomslang snake doing in Scotland?"

"Sssss I essscaped. From the big pile of sssstonesss. With all the peoplesss. Nasssty people. Wanted to chopssss me up for potionssss." The snake replied. "Itsss not often one encounterssss a Sspeaker," the snake said, as it slithered along the road towards Harry.

Harry took a step back and maneuvered the pram so that Tom was behind him.

"Stop where you are. Don't come any closer." Harry ordered.

The snake, a brown female, slithered to a stop.

"I'll not hurt you. A sssnake wouldn't hurt a Ssspeaker." The boomslang said.

Harry paused from his backing away. He'd had a thought.

"I bet itssss awfully cold in the foressst. Would you like to come with me to sssomewhere warm?"

The boomslang cocked her head to the side, in a human-like manner.

"What are you sssuggessting?"

"I have a placcce where you could ssstay hot all year round. All I'd asssk for in return isss your venom and your ssshed ssskin. You'd be provided with food and sssafe placess to sssunbake and no danger of being ccchopped up for potionsss."

The boomslang stayed motionless, thinking through what Harry had offered.

"Yessss. It isss very cold here in the foressst. I will go with you."

The snake began to move forward towards Harry.

"Um, no biting! Not anyone while you are with me, unlesssss they attempt to hurt you, me or Tom."

"Tom. Isss that the youngling in the wheely basssket?"

"Yesss. He will be a ssspeaker when he growsss up too. And we alssso have an elf, who mussssn't be harmed."

"Agreed."

The snake slithered towards Harry once more. He bent down and offered her his arm. The snake slithered up and settled herself around Harry's neck.

Walking steadily back to Hogsmeade, it was Harry's plan to disillusion the snake so that no one would be alarmed when he flooed back home. Unfortunately, within a dozen metres of where he'd found the snake, Harry encountered Dumbledore once more.

"Goodness me. Are you alright? You do realise that you have an extremely poisonous snake around your neck, don't you Harry?"

"Um, yes sir. But it won't bite me."

"Really. And how would you know that, my boy?"

"She told me so. I'm a parselmouth, but I'm not a dark wizard!" Harry explained.

Albus Dumbledore sighed. "Of course you're not a dark wizard. It's just a very alarming sight. Is it hereditary?"

"Umm, I don't know. I don't know much about my family. I'm related to the Evangelos. And the Peverells."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "The Peverells, and the Evangelos. The Peverells were distantly related to Salazar Slytherin, I believe. And the Evangelos too had a parselmouth or two in their line, and they were well known light wizards. But _why_ do you have a venomous snake around your neck?"

"She was cold."

"Ahh. I see. What do you plan to do with her, a boomslang, I believe?"

Harry gulped. The snake had escaped from Hogwarts. Perhaps Dumbledore would want her back.

"I plan on starting a business supplying various potions ingredients. It's a job I can manage from home. She was just lying on the path."

"Ahh. A worthy occupation. I wish you well. Expect my owl within the next week. We should get you started on Advanced Transfiguration as soon as possible." Dumbledore nodded to Harry and continued his walk back up to Hogwarts. As he walked away, Harry could have sworn he heard Dumbledore muttering to himself, "A very promising young man."

Deciding he'd better disillusion the boomslang before he encountered anyone else, Harry fished out his wand and cast the spell. He then proceeded to walk quickly back to the Three Broomsticks, paid Madame Leona 1 sickle to use the floo powder and flooed back to Bolton Farm.

Bobby was in the kitchen when Harry arrived back.

"Aieek! Master Harry has a nasty snakey on his neck! Does Master Harry need saving?"

"No, I'm fine. Though if you could look after Tommy, I'll take the snake out to her new home."

Bobby quickly agreed, and took Tommy far away to the bedrooms, away from nasty snakies. Harry took the snake outside to the barn. He chose an empty stall and asked the boomslang what she'd like in her enclosure.

"Sssoil, ssstones, logsss, treess. Placesss to hide."

Harry translocated some soil from the fields, rich loamy earth. He transfigured from firewood some large logs and branches that he criss-crossed the stall. He conjured a small tree and some smooth large rocks to bake on. Harry then cast a heating charm, which would need renewing weekly, which would keep the enclosure at a comfortable 35 degrees Celsius. Finally, he encased the gap from the door to the roof in glass, so that the snake couldn't escape but could still see out.

"Iss thiss acceptable?" he asked. The snake answered that it was fine. Harry gently put her down on the substrate and she slithered over to a rock.

"I like ratsss, frogsss and mice. One every other day. Let me know what you need of me."

Harry agreed to supply the food the snake wanted. He also enquired if she had a name. When the snake replied in the negative, Harry suggested the name Sophia. The boomslang thought it over and agreed. Sophia she would be. Looking at his watch, Harry realised that it was now 4:30, and his dinner guests would be arriving soon. He hastily said goodbye, threw the chickens some grain and ran back up to the house.

Bobby had been a very busy elf. He'd cleaned the entire house so that it shone and the aromatic scent of roast pork and vegetables hung in the air. Tommy was freshly bathed and dressed in his new pale green wizarding robe and sitting in his bouncer.

"Master Harry must be hurrying. Master's guests will be here soon."

Harry quickly ran himself a shower, washed his hair and then toweled dry. He changed into a pair of grey trousers, white shirt and covered that with his new blue robe. He ran a brush through his hair; which made no difference as usual; slapped on some aftershave and was ready just as the floo chimed.

"Hello, welcome to Bolton Farm." Harry said as he greeted Vesta, Hector, Dawn and Asta. Vesta swept him up into a big hug. "Harry my dear. Where's that Tommy of yours?"

Laughing, Harry directed Vesta to the lounge room where she descended upon Tom. Hector shook hands with Harry and then followed Vesta through. Dawn though, stayed in the kitchen. Harry greeted her with a kiss to the cheek. Dawn looked lovely. Her hair had been pulled back into a bun, leaving bits whisping around her face. She had subtle makeup applied and was wearing an old, though still fetching dusky pink robe. She blushed when Harry kissed her.  
"I want kiss too!" a little voice demanded. Harry turned to Asta, dressed in a pretty blue dress. He bent down and gave her a kiss on the head.

"There, a kiss for a princess."

Asta giggled and quickly ran off to find her grandma, leaving Harry and Dawn alone in the kitchen.

"You look lovely. Thank you for coming." Harry said.

"Thanks for inviting us. I don't get out much so it's a wonderful change. Your house looks lovely. Well, the kitchen does anyway."

Harry laughed. "How about a tour?"

Harry and Dawn walked through to the lounge and then Harry showed the Williams' through his house. They were enchanted. "It's lovely Harry! You're a very lucky man," Vesta declared.

Bobby soon announced that dinner was ready. The six wizards (including Tommy) sat down for dinner. Bobby refused to eat with them, saying earlier to Harry that it wasn't proper. Instead he served them and later ate by himself in the kitchen. Dinner was roast pork, crackled to perfection, a mixture of roast vegetables, including potato, sweet potato, onion, parsnip and pumpkin. There was wine for the adults and pumpkin juice for Asta. For dessert, Bobby had made a chocolate cake with the words 'Congratulations Master Harry' iced on. This necessitated an explanation of why Harry was being congratulated, which resulted in more hugs and kisses from Vesta. Harry then broached to Dawn the topic of her tutoring him for his NEWTs.

"I was in Hogsmeade today, and Professor Dumbledore suggested that you tutor me towards sitting my NEWTs in November. He said you were an excellent student."

Dawn demurred, saying she wasn't that good, before finally agreeing to tutor Harry a few afternoons a week. Harry convinced her to set a price, as he didn't want her to feel used, so they agreed on 8 sickles per three hour session. Asta began to get sleepy, so Harry showed Dawn the spare room she could put Asta to sleep in. Dawn then spent a little while putting Asta to bed whilst Harry went back to the lounge to sit and talk with Vesta and Hector. However, once he sat down he was pinned by Hector's glare.

"I hope you're planning on treating my Dawn right. I've had enough of rich men sweeping her off her feet, then dumping her back on the floor. I don't want her getting hurt again!" Hector said.

Taken aback, Harry protested, "Dawn and I are just good friends. She's very nice, but we aren't seeing each other. But if we were, I promise that I'm not the type of guy to lead her on."

Hector glowered a bit, then nodded. Vesta smiled and changed the conversation, asking Harry more about his farm. Harry was just explaining the introduction with Sophia when Dawn got back from putting Asta to sleep.

"So, you've got a poisonous snake in your barn. You're mad!" Vesta exclaimed with a shiver. She really didn't like snakes. Deciding to come straight out and say he was a parselmouth, Harry explained that he and anyone else here was in no danger from Sophia. He also outlined his plans to go into business. Hector and Harry then spent quite a while talking about business plans and such, before a last cup of tea. Vesta and Hector left shortly before 10pm, leaving Dawn to stay the night in another of Harry's spare rooms, so as to not wake Asta up. Hector had left with a final meaningful glare for Harry.

"This was a lovely evening Harry. Thank you for inviting me. Your house really is lovely and I'm intrigued with your plans" Dawn said.

Harry sat down in the chair opposite hers.

"Thanks. And thanks for agreeing to tutor me. I'd really like to pass my NEWTs. It was really nice to have you here as well. And your parents." Harry added.

The pair sat awkwardly in silence. Bobby popped back into the room.

"Anymore cake or tea?" he asked. They both declined. After he left though, Dawn said "Perhaps we should ask for some wine. That got us talking last time."

This line broke the ice between them and they were able to talk normally once more. Dawn told Harry how she had met up with her old friends from Hogwarts, how one girl in particular had been horrible to her about having an illegitimate child. She'd also had the horror of serving Melania Black at the candle shop. "She had her daughter Lucretia with her and she looked very similar to Asta. My hands shook the entire time I served her. I kept wondering, 'Does she know who I am?' I was so thankful when she left. I was just glad she didn't have Arcturus with her."

"Poor Dawn. That must have been traumatic."

"It was. I hadn't seen her in person before. She was dressed in this finery, wearing gold necklaces and had a large diamond ring on her wedding finger. Much larger than anything Arcturus had given me. But you know what, she didn't look happy. I am happy. I've got Mum and Dad and Asta, and now I've got you and Tommy as well. She just has lots of jewels and a pig of a husband and lives in a lonely old house, not getting to do anything fun at all."

"I'm glad you're happy now Dawn." Harry said.

Dawn blushed, and Harry turned away.

"Umm. Shall we go to bed then. To sleep! Separately! In different rooms! Oh god, you know what I mean," Harry said as Dawn started laughing. In a huff, Harry showed Dawn the room she could use, which was right next door to Asta's so if Asta needed her in the night, she was close.

"Goodnight Dawn" Harry said, "Sweet dreams."

"Goodnight Harry." They stared at each other, then Harry leaned forward and gave Dawn a gentle but firm kiss on her lips.

"Goodnight Dawn," he said before walking down the hall to his own room, leaving Dawn standing there, her hand raised to her face.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven:**

**AN: I have sat three exams this week, so sorry that there is only one chapter. I hope that it is enjoyed. **

The day after Harry's dinner party had been awkward. Dawn, while admitting that she was very fond of Harry, wasn't sure if she was ready for a relationship with anyone at present. Also, she was worried about the reputation surrounding her unwed mother status as being detrimental towards Harry. While Harry didn't think so, he was actually a very well off wizard in terms of finances and also breeding, as he was related to the Peverells and the Evangelos family. The Evangelos had arrived in England in 1621 and were a very wealthy family. Whilst they were never elevated to the status of Lords, they did have an advisory seat on the Wizengamot that Harry could claim at age 21. So, Dawn and Harry continued to be friends, with Dawn coming around three afternoons a week to help Harry study for his NEWTs. While Dawn offered her services for free, Harry was adamant that he would pay her for her time, so whenever they were actually studying, rather than just being together as friends, Harry would pay her the agreed rate of 1 sickle per hour. Three weeks after their meeting, Albus Dumbledore contacted Harry in regards to providing extra tuition. Harry was happy to agree and Albus often left Harry work to complete and had agreed to visit with Harry once a fortnight to spend most of the day going over Harry's magic lessons.

Harry had been studying under Albus' for about two months when Harry finally broached the subject that had been bothering him for some time.

"Albus, why exactly did you offer your services to me when we first met? I'm very grateful for your help, but I was just wondering, why me?"

"Ah. Well you see, you reminded me of someone I was once very close to. I had a good friend in my youth who gave of the same joyous energy as you do. I suppose it was nostalgia. Also, your kind heart in caring for Tom also won me over. I was only your age myself when my mother died, and I was left the guardian of my brother and sister. However, unlike you I deeply resented that my freedom had been curtailed and unfortunately, my sister ended up passing away. My brother, Aberforth and I barely speak to each other even now. I felt that I should do all I could to help you, possibly as a way of atonement for my earlier youthful mistakes."

Harry couldn't reveal that he had already known most of this information from a book published seventy years into the future, so he had to try his best to act like the information was new. In fact, it wasn't that much of an act. He was actually amazed that Albus felt comfortable enough to discuss such things with Harry at all. He had learned a lot more about and had more interaction with Albus now than he had over 6 years in the future. Reasoning it was probably due to the smaller age difference; Harry was nonetheless touched at his new intimacy with Albus.

"I didn't really have much choice when it came to taking care of Tom. It was me or the orphanage, which is actually where I collected him from. Who knows how Tom could have turned out growing up there?"

Well actually, Harry did know _exactly_ how Tom turned out after growing up in the orphanage and he'd be damned if that happened again.

"Also Albus, it wasn't all happy. I resented Tom for reasons out of his control and there were times when I hated him. Normally at 3 o'clock in the morning when he was crying, so I'm not all that wonderful."

"Yes Harry, you had the choice to do what was right or what was easy and chose to do what was right. The easy thing to do would have been to leave Tom in the orphanage. The right thing was to adopt him. I'm afraid that if I had had to make those choices, I would have chosen wrongly."

At this point, the conversation was interrupted by Tom. He was now six months old and had recently mastered the art of crawling. It was late July, nearly Harry's true 18th birthday, and as the weather was so fine, Albus and Harry had taken to having their lessons outdoors. Albus was an innovative teacher, getting Harry to practice Transfigurations and Charms in a practical manner. They would often set Tom on the floor and allow him to crawl around amusing himself in the gardens and farmyard whilst Harry transfigured and charmed his way around the place, fixing, creating and changing things. Today they were transfiguring rocks and pebbles into toys that Tom could play with.

"Hello little man. What do you have there?" Harry asked Tom, who had crawled up to Harry's feet. In Tom's hand was a smooth black stone.

"Is this for me? Thank you." Harry said as he took the stone from Tom and had a look at it. It really was quite shiny and very smooth. Almost completely spherical except that it had a crack line bisecting it. And it was starting to move in his hand.

"Ahh!" Harry shrieked as he dropped the stone. Albus spun around with his wand pointed.

"Harry, what's wrong?"

Harry had snatched Tom up from the floor and had back away from the moving stone and was carefully examining Tom's hand to make sure he hadn't been hurt.

"The bloody stone moved. It's not a stone. It's some kind of … thing."

Albus bent down to look at the stone/thing and had a chuckle.  
"Harry, it's quite harmless. It's just an egg."

"What kind of egg is black and spherical? It doesn't look like a bird's egg."

"I believe it's an egg from a Marlow Newt. There must be a hatchery in your duck pond."

"It's a good thing I warded it then so that Tom can't get into the water, just play around the edge. I think I should take a look, see if I can find some more. It might be worth protecting them, set up the pond as a habitat for them so they can breed and I can sell them. Do you mind Albus if we take a break for now?"  
"No, that's fine. I'll come along and help. Four eyes are better than two, even though we both wear glasses."

Bobby came out to take Tom and give him some mushy porridge for lunch and Harry and Albus began poking around the duck pond. The pond was situated several hundred metres away from the house, and as it was a hazard for Tom, Harry had warded it off with an age line that didn't allow anyone younger than fifteen to enter the water. Harry hadn't any domestic ducks, but there were several wild pairs that used the pond as a feeding and resting ground. The pond was probably the size of a very large swimming pool, with a 30 metre diameter. Harry thought it would make a nice place to swim in in summer when Tom was a bit older, like the Weasley's used to swim in the pond near the Burrow. The water in the pond was quite clean and clear and looked inviting to Harry as the day was quite hot. Around the banks was a sandy beach and lots of reeds and water plants.

"Right, shall you look left and I right and meet back in the middle?" Albus asked.

"Huh?" Harry had been startled out of his reverie, "Oh, yeah. And whoever finds the eggs or any Newts calls out."

Harry began to move left around the pond, peering through clumps of leaves and reeds, under a small log.

'Ahah. A small colony, I believe." Albus cried out.  
Harry rushed over to where Albus was standing, ankle deep in the water amongst some native reeds. Sure enough, there was a large nursery hidden amongst the waterline of around a hundred black eggs and in the water were some of the most recently hatched babies, about as long as Harry's pinkie finger. They were a pale murky green with faint markings on the head and flanks that would darken to become brown.

"Do you think they'll all hatch?" Harry asked.

"Hmmm. If we can set up some sort of containment system so that they are safe from predation, maybe arrange some charms so they are kept at a warmer temperature over winter, and yes, I'd say that this could be a very successful colony. Marlow Newts are useful in any number of potions as they grow to quite a large size. They are not necessarily an exotic or particularly profitable creature, but you can always sell the eggs and the newts. I'd collect a quarter of the eggs to preserve as ingredients and let the rest grow. When they are a decent size, you could allow some to breed and harvest another quarter for potions ingredients. These to can be sold either alive or preserved. They breed twice a year so you could sell 50 eggs and about 30 to 40 mature newts a year. But they only sell from Slug and Jiggers for 7 Knuts each, so it would be best to build up a larger colony. Or attempt to find wild colonies to harvest. Now look over here at this. Come closer."  
SPLASH!

"I though you looked quite hot Harry, and could do with a dip." Albus said while laughing at Harry's shocked drenched face. Harry quickly retaliated and the pair were soon having a water fight. That night Albus stayed for dinner and it marked the transition from student/teacher to friends.

As summer faded into autumn, Harry was hard at work studying for his NEWTs. Albus had come over regularly during Hogwart's summer holidays but once school had gone back, he'd cut down his visits to one afternoon a fortnight. He still set Harry work and would mark it, letting Harry know at what standard he was at. Dawn still came around frequently to assist Harry with studying as well as to socialise. Dawn had been finding it hard to reintegrate herself into her former social circle since she'd left to have Asta. Some of her former friends were being quite snobby about Asta being illegitimate. Harry couldn't quite understand it himself, though he was aware that his perspective was skewed to a more liberal 1990's attitude. The prevailing attitude at present was still very much patriarchal and Harry found it odd that witches were not treated on an equal footing to wizards. Witches were supposed to save themselves for marriage, have babies and only later consider careers. As witches and wizards had extremely long life spans, this did mean that witches didn't generally start working professionally until their forties unless they were unmarried. In hindsight, Harry realised that this was what Molly Weasley had done. The slightly subservient attitude Dawn and Vesta had towards men, including Harry himself, actually made him realise over the months that a relationship between him and Dawn wouldn't work unless she gained more spunk in her interactions with him. Still, they got along well enough.

In truth, Harry was starting to get a bit lonely. He'd enjoyed the summer with Albus. Albus was an extremely powerful and learned wizard, but he also had a sense of joy and boyishness about him. He also realised that the past eight months had been a time of mourning for his lost life and friends. While they were not dead, they had yet to be born, and Harry was sure that they would never be the same people again. He didn't even know whether his interference would cause some of his friends to never be born. He was finally coming out of that period of mourning and realised that he should start making more definitive steps to a future here.

He had tentatively started a potions menagerie of animals including several boomslangs, four newt species, ashwinders and eggs, pixies, doxies and several types of spiders; though none as large as an acromantula. Harry was also planning a trip into several forests in Britain, including the Forbidden Forest and Sherwood Forest in the hopes of encountering some more creatures, though it would have to wait until after his NEWTs. At present he was still well set in terms of finance. Bobby was a very thrifty elf and over spring and summer, they had had quite a good vegetable harvest. Harry had purchased a cow for milk, so along with the chickens and hunting provided by Balthasar, very little was spent on food. The majority of expenses were clothes and toys for Tom and books for Harry.

On November 11th, Harry sat his NEWTs along with twenty other witches and wizards who were unable to sit them in May at Hogwarts. Nastily exhausting was definitely a good name for them. Harry was thoroughly exhausted once they were over, though it hadn't helped that Tom had started cutting teeth and was feverish and irritable as a result. Tom was almost one, and Harry had started shopping to buy Tom some presents for both his birthday and Yule. Harry had learned from Albus that most wizards celebrated Yule, not Christmas, so Harry had read up on the rituals and celebrations. It was a very tense time waiting for his NEWT exam results. Harry had taken to watching the skies whenever he was outside, on the lookout for a post owl. Albus and Dawn were taking it in turns cheering him up, saying that it wouldn't be long now and that he'd done fine. Finally, on December 15th, Harry received his anticipated results. It was a Sunday and Albus had stayed over the night before, having a long discussion with Harry over travel through France. Thus, Albus was having breakfast with Harry when the owl arrived.

"Oh dear Merlin. I don't want to open it. What if I failed?" Harry stressed, holding the thick parchment envelope in his hands. Albus rolled his eyes dramatically at Harry.

"You're being a drama queen. You studied very hard, you'll have done well. Just open the letter and put us both out of our misery."

Taking a deep breath, Harry slid his butter knife along the crease and opened the envelope. He read through then put the letter done on the table.

"I'll be outside," he said, and quickly left the kitchen. Stunned and a little worried, Albus snatched up the letter to see for himself how Harry had fared.

Mr. Ashby

We at the Department of Education are pleased to notify you of the results of your recent Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests. Your Defense against the Dark Arts examination received the highest recorded mark for the last century. Please accept our congratulations.

If you have a dispute with the grades at all, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely

Mr. Jerkins

NEWT Results for Harry Ashby:

Potions: Theory: **EE** Practical: **EE**

Combined Mark: **EE**

Transfiguration: Theory: **O** Practical: **O**

Combined Mark:** O**

Herbology: Theory: ** EE **Practical: **O**

Combined Mark: **EE**

Charms: Theory: **O **Practical: ** O**

Combined Mark: **O**

History of Magic: Written exam : ** EE**

C.O.M.C: Theory: **O **Practical: **O**

Combined Mark: **O**

Defense against the Dart Arts: Theory: **O+** practical: **O+ **

Combined Mark: **O++**

Grinning, Albus hurried outside to see what Harry was doing. Looking around, he couldn't see Harry anywhere.

"Whoopee. Yahoo. This is for you Hermione!"

Albus looked up. Harry was flying, his fist pumped high into the air, rejoicing, sobbing and smiling concurrently. Harry brought his Cleansweep One to land next to Albus.

"Well done Harry. You did marvelously."

"Thanks. Without your help…I don't think I could have done it. Thank you Albus. You're a good friend."

Albus lifted his hand to Harry's face.

"Why the tears?"

"It's just that NEWTs meant a lot to a witch that I knew once. She'd have been very pleased with my grades."

"You cannot tell her?"

"She's…dead."  
"I am sorry. Still, I'm very proud of you and insist that we go to dinner to celebrate. We didn't celebrate your nineteenth birthday last month."

"That, that would be lovely Albus." Harry smiled up at Albus, his face still cupped in Albus' hand. He blushed.

"That would be lovely."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

**AN: After a few reviews, particularly one from ****Dipilidopa, I thought I'd leave this announcement. It appears as though this fic will be leading towards being a slash inclined fic, with the pairing of Harry and Albus. There will not be any graphic scenes only handholding, the odd kiss and domestic scenes. There may be hints of what is or has occurred i.e. Harry was exhausted but in a good way, or When Tom came into the bedroom, Harry was glad he and Albus were clothed. Nothing explicit. But if that still offends you, stop reading the fic. Don't post abusive reviews. Dipilidopa was worried about the age gap. Harry at present is 19, Dumbledore is 46. Not too large an age gap. If you look on hplexicon, it has Albus's DOB as July or August 1881, and in this fic, Harry's adjusted DOB is Nov, 1908. Thank you for all those who have left positive or critical reviews. I hope this story continues to satisfy readers. **

Two days after Harry received his NEWTs results, Albus arranged to take him out for a celebratory dinner. Bobby was babysitting Tom and had instructions to immediately contact Harry by floo at the restaurant if any problems occurred. Harry had been unsure of what to wear for dinner, so had asked for advice from Dawn and Vesta. After exchanging glances with each other, they had helped Harry choose an outfit of cream breeches, white shirt with a blue waistcoat and a deep blue robe with silver embroidery around collar and cuff. It was a very extravagant robe that Harry had bought and then immediately regretted buying, as he couldn't envision an occasion to wear it. Looking at himself in the mirror before dinner made him glad that he hadn't returned it. Albus had met Harry at Bolton Farm so that he could side along apparate Harry to the restaurant. Like Harry, Albus had dressed up. His auburn hair had been clipped back in a silver clasp and his beard was trimmed short. He was wearing a robe made of thick green brocade with gold piping around the collar. Underneath he had on brown trousers and a cream shirt. His boots were a dark brown with bronze buckles.

"Harry, you look, very nice. Are you ready to go?" Albus asked.

Harry nodded and took Albus' arm and they apparated. Harry felt again the twisting pressure of being shoved through a small tunnel before they appeared at the restaurant. Really, apparating was a lot easier to do yourself.

The restaurant they went to was called The Cauldron and Ladle and was situated in Edinburgh. The décor was heavy dark wood with large fireplaces and a myriad of ladles and cauldrons were used as decorations. Lighting was provided by candlelit wall sconces and fat stubby candles on each table. Upon their arrival, a waiter had guided Harry and Albus to a table set for two at the far side of the room. Like the other tables, it was solidly built and made of a very dark wood. The chairs matched, though they had blue cushions for comfort. There was a blue tablecloth on the table and three pale blue fat candles. Feeling a tad awkward Harry took the seat next to the wall leaving Albus to sit with his back to the room. The waiter handed them menus then murmured he'd be back for their drinks order. Albus, seeing how uncomfortable Harry was enquired how he was.

"Are you alright Harry? Are you worried about Tom or uncomfortable having dinner with me?"  
"No. I'm fine. I…I've never actually been to a restaurant before. The only places I've ever eaten are at home, at friends or in a pub. This place is…different. Posh. That's all. Having dinner with you is fine. A drink and dinner between friends."

"Never been to dinner? Hopefully this will be the first of many. The Cauldron and Ladle serves English food, not hard to pronounce French cuisine. It shouldn't be hard to figure out what you'd like. I myself feel that we should decide what we might like to eat first, so as we can decide on a red or white wine. Any preferences?"

Harry scanned the menu, wondering why he felt the urge to blush when Albus mentioned future meals. This wasn't a date. Just a meal with a friend. A good friend. A good friend that had a history with liking men according to Rita Skeeter. Oh Merlin, this was a date. And, Harry found himself quite alright with that idea. He kept looking down the menu, whilst pondering further. If asked six months ago, Harry couldn't imagine going on a date with a man, particularly Albus, but things change. Albus had become a very good friend. They talked a lot, spent a lot of time together. Albus had stayed over a few days over the autumn holidays. He got on well with Tom and Bobby. And he was rather attractive. With his hair russet brown and blue eyes, he was rather striking. The beard added character, giving him a scruffy appeal. Albus was very different to professor Dumbledore and Harry resolved to think of them as separate people. Future meals might not be a bad thing.

"Um. I think I'd like the rack of lamb with rosemary jus and roast vegetables."  
"And entrée?"

"An entrée is what exactly?" Harry asked.

Albus smiled at Harry's obvious inexperience.

"An entrée is a starter. Something small before the main course. I recommend the Terrine of sweet potato & goat's cheese with aubagine pickle. I like the wild mushroom tart for myself and for mains; I'll have the loin of wild boar, with blackberry jus and roast vegetables. So with those menu choices, we should get a nice red wine."

"Yeah, the sweet potato thing sounds nice. Though I do like mushrooms. Perhaps we'll share?"

"If you like," Albus said with a grin.

The waiter came back and took their food order as well as an order for a bottle of Chateau Rambouillet Pessac-Leognan which was a red wine. During the wait for their entrée's Harry and Albus began conversation.

"So, now that you have your results, do you have any plans?

"Yeah. Kind of. I surprisingly enjoyed learning and studying. Always before it has been interrupted and didn't seem important. I've never had marks that good before. But I did really well in DADA. I'd like to do some sort of extra training, but I'm not sure what. I need to think about expanding on my menagerie. Make it profitable. I thought that that would be a decent stay at home job, but I really need a lot more room to make it profitable, as well as humane for the creatures. It's really turning into more of an exhibit than an ingredients supply. The downside of being able to speak to the reptiles, I guess."

"Reptiles. Not just snakes?"

"No, newts, lizards, the odd toad or frog. At first it was just the snakes, the boomslangs, ashwinders and common wild snakes. Then I began picking up words from the lizards and newts. Amphibians are harder. I only get one word in five. Its like a different dialect I am only just discovering. Its interesting. The magical species are easier to understand and smarter. But, its hard to kill off a dozen newts when you know what they're saying. I've only been able to sell the eggs and shed skins from the snakes. Luckily they're not maternal or I might have to listen to them complain. Oh, and the venom, though that's easy to collect when I can tell the snakes when to bite. I guess I'm the crazy reptile man on the moors."  
"Hah. Perhaps we should borrow the sorting hat. It could declare you the heir to Slytherin! All bow down to the great Harry Ashby, Lord of the Serpents."

Harry shuddered. Not again.

"I think I'm more a Gryffindor. Rushing in where fools fear to tread and all that."

"Perhaps. Really though, house affiliation is not concrete. We all have aspects of each house within us. None are better than the others, though of course, I'm partial to Gryffindor too. So, if the ingredients trade is failing you, what else?"  
"I've had a proposition from the goblins at Gringotts. They are looking at setting up mixed teams of wizard/goblin curse breakers for expeditions for treasure. I'm interested, but it would involve travel, which is hard with Tom. I'm not pressed for finances at present so I've time to decide. Any advice would be welcome though."

The waiter came back with the entrée's and a bottle of chilled water. Harry and Albus tucked in.

"Mmmm. This is delicious. Thanks for recommending it."

"Quite all right. The tart is excellent too. Did you want a taste?"

Albus cut a slice of the mushroom tart and held it on a fork for Harry. Self-consciously, Harry leaned over and took a bite.

"That's great. There are some kind of herbs in it too, aren't there. Would you like some sweet potato?"

They proceeded to share the entrée's, with Harry declaring them both spectacular.

"So without Tom to consider, you'd look at curse breaking?"

"Well, yeah. But I do have Tom to consider, so that's out the question."

"Relax Harry; I wasn't suggesting you dump Tom anywhere, just that you could look at an apprenticeship; learning the art of curse breaking without leaving the country. Your defense mark was outstanding, I'm sure a master could be found to take you on. Then as Tom gets older, he could perhaps accompany you on expeditions."

"Hmm. I suppose. I hadn't thought about that. When I think curse breaking, I think of Egypt. I'll look into it."

"Or you could apply for the Auror programme. Your results would be high enough to gain a place."  
Harry had thought of that. His one career goal in the future had been to become an auror, but that was with the expectation heaped upon him as The-Boy-Who-Lived.

"I'm not sure about that. A bit dangerous with a young kid at home."

"Perhaps. Well, I'm sure something will come to you in time." Finished with the entrée's, the waiter brought the main meals which proved equally delicious. After a short break for tea, they decided to share a glazed lemon tart for dessert.

"Thank you for your recommendation that day in Hogsmeade. I tried the lemon drops and found them to my liking. I've bought several packets since then."

"That's okay. Glad you liked them."

With the end of the meal, conversation strained again. Albus paid the bill and they went outside. The night sky was clear but cold, with stars twinkling overhead. Harry started to panic once more. _If this is a date, will he want to kiss? More? What if it's not a date? Do I want it to be one? What if I kiss him, but he's not interested. What if he thinks I'm a kid? What if…._

"Hmmm. You look lost in thought? Anything interesting?"

Harry looked up at Albus.

"Do you want me to kiss you?" he blurted, then blushed, mortified at what he'd said out loud.

"I wouldn't mind it. Why, do you want to kiss me?" Albus asked, straight faced, with a twitch of his lips hinting at a smile.

Harry threw his hands up.

"This is all very confusing. I thought I like girls. Did like girls. But then I like you. And thinking about it, the girls I've liked are, masculine I guess. Cho was a quidditch player and so was Ginny, and when we discussed that, things were great. Neither was well endowed, both had a muscled athletic body. My first kiss, I described as 'wet'. And when Ginny wanted more intimacy, I shied away from it. I thought I liked Dawn, but she's more like a sister. Whereas you, well, I think you're very attractive. And we talk about more than quidditch. And you don't seem likely to cry…"  
Harry shut up as Albus leant towards him and kissed him. His beard felt prickly against Harry's lips and Harry gasped. Albus' tongue teased gently against Harry's asking for entrance, which Harry gave. They kissed, deeper, until Albus took a step back.

"Was that wet?"

Harry shook his head, stunned at the emotions he's felt.

"Well then, I hope that answers any questions you may have had about my desire to kiss you."

"Yeah, it does. And some of my own questions about whether I wanted to kiss you."

"And?" Albus queried, hoping Harry wasn't dissatisfied with the kiss.

"I think I like kissing you."

"Good," Albus said as he stepped forward once more to capture Harry's lips with his own. They kissed again; once, twice; before they parted.

"Its getting late. We should head back. Bobby hasn't flooed so I presume things with Tom are fine."  
Harry nodded his head still in a cloud.

"I really like kissing you," he said.

Albus laughed. "Oh dear, I broke him."

That snapped Harry out of his trance. He smacked Albus, "I'm not broken, you git. I was…enjoying the moment."

"Right. Did you want to side-along or…"

"I'll apparate. I don't like side-along."

They both apparated to the farm and met up in the kitchen. Bobby was there, putting away the last of the dishes.

"Master Harry is back. Did Master Harry have a good time with his Albus?" Bobby asked as he ushered them to chairs and served tea.

"Master Harry had a great time. How was Tom?"

"Master Tommy was a good boy. He ate his mushy pumpkin and peas and potato pie, only spitting out every other mouthful. Then we played horsy, with Bobby the horse. He went night-night at seven o'clock and hasn't woken up. Bobby has baked more bread and fed the creatures and cleaned the house."

"That's great Bobby. Thanks."

Bobby beamed at his praise and after checking that Harry and Albus didn't need anything, popped away to his room.

"Thanks for a great dinner, Albus. I had a great time."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. I hope you do think about taking an apprenticeship in defense. I think it'd fit well with you. You could always try the dueling circuit. A British wizard, Filius Flitwick is doing quite well. I hear he's made the semi-finals of the International Dueling Championship held in Munich this year. You could see him when he returns."

_Flitwick! Right, he'd be young now too. _

"I'll consider it. Its getting late and Tom gets up early."

"I'll let myself out then." Albus paused at the doorway. "You did enjoy yourself?" he queried.

Harry nodded his head and grinned.

"I didn't pressure you into anything, did I?"

Harry swooped forward and kissed Albus again.

"It was a shock. I hadn't thought about it before. But you didn't pressure me into anything. I liked it," Harry explained.

Albus straightened, confident once more. "Well, goodnight."

Harry waved goodbye as Albus apparated from the yard. He stripped of his robes and changed into his pajamas for bed. Next to the bed, on the wooden bedside drawers was a letter.

Harry

I expect lots of gossip about dinner. Will be round tomorrow at 10. Make sure Bobby makes his tea cake.

Love Dawn.

Harry grinned. A chat with Dawn would be a great way to sort out his thoughts. She really was a great friend. With thoughts of Albus, Ginny and Cho running through his head, Harry attempted to go to sleep, knowing that doubts would assail him the next day, but confident, at present, that everything would work out.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**AN: Thanks to all who have reviewed. I'm sorry if the ship doesn't meet everyone's approval but most people have been polite about telling me they don't. There have been a couple of exceptions so I would like to say again, if you don't like the story, stop reading. There is no need to write hurtful reviews that basically say 'you suck'. I've tried to explain reasons for events unfolding as they do, to allow for some plausibility. Ongoing readers, I hope you enjoy the rest of this story and readers who are stopping now, feel free to check for future non-slash stories. Positive or constructive critiques are welcomed. **

Yule Customs and Origins

Nearly every ancient culture held a celebration to mark the shortest day of the year and the return of the Sun. Celebrated annually on the Winter Solstice, generally falling on December 20th or December 21st, it is known as Yule, and serves as the origin for many Christmas traditions.

Celtic tradition holds life as a cycle rather than a linear state, and also teaches that what is exoteric is intrinsic, what is within is without. At the time of the Winter Solstice as the earth is undergoing the process of death to rebirth and renewal, so also must the human soul. Yule marks that spiral of time when the old sun surrenders its life in order that the new one might come. This corresponds to the belief that the Celtic Sun God, Bel was interrelated with the Celtic Death God, Bile. As with the celebration of Litha, the two Gods appear in form as the Oak King and the Holly King battling for supremacy. This is only one reason that the Druids were initially so accepting of Christianity with Christ as the human embodiment of the new Sun. It is also one of the reasons that Christmas is celebrated at this time, both from a pagan perspective and a spiritually metaphorical one.

_The Yule Log_

Although not recorded in the Coligny (the Celtic Calendar which dates back to the first century A.D) as one of the great fire festivals, the custom of lighting the Yule log is derived from the Celtic tradition of tending a continual hearth fire to keep spirits from entering the home. In order to keep the fire burning, a large tree was cut down and brought into the home, where the tree was placed trunk first in the hearth and the last remnants of it set aside to burn with the next year's fire.

_Mistletoe_

Additional customs and traditions which we celebrate today include decorating with evergreens, another representation of the ongoing cycle of life, and the hanging of Mistletoe considered sacred to the Oak King by the Druids around whom the festival centered. The ritual of Mistletoe was thusly described by Pliny the Roman Historian:

_"They prepare a ritual sacrifice and feast under the tree and lead up two white bulls whose horns are bound for the first time on the occasion. A Druid attired in a white vestment ascends the tree and with a golden pruning hook cuts the mistletoe which is caught in a white cloth."_

Mistletoe was thought to have been produced by lightning because it was a deciduous plant that bore no root and was found thriving high in the trees. Because of this, it was also considered protection from lightning and fire and hung in doorways year round.

Text taken from site: /yule

Harry closed the book, _Traditional Wizarding Holidays_ and rubbed his eyes. He had been researching the Yule festival, hoping to learn as much about it as possible. When he had lived with the Dursley's and been at school at Hogwarts, he had only heard of Christmas being celebrated in December, unaware that many pureblood and traditional wizarding families celebrated non-Christian holidays. The Weasley's had celebrated Christmas, not Yule, and Harry suspected that it was due to Mr. Weasleys's interest in muggle things. The Blacks and Malfoy's would certainly have celebrated Yule, not Christmas. To try something new and start his own traditions, Harry decided to try celebrating Yule on December 21, which would leave a week between it and Tom's birthday, rather than the two days provided if he celebrated Christmas on the 25th. As today was the 19th, two days after his date with Albus, Harry was cutting things fine. He had arranged for Albus, Dawn, Asta, Vesta and Hector to come around for lunch on Saturday 21st to celebrate the holiday with Tom, Bobby and himself. Bonesnapper had sent a politely worded refusal, explaining that goblins celebrated different holidays, but he'd like to catch up with Harry in the New Year. Septimus Weasley, who Harry still corresponded with, had posted Harry a set of gobstones and a letter cheerily wishing Harry a merry Christmas. Septimus hadn't sat his NEWTs, and had instead gotten an entry level position in the ministry in the Department of Floo regulations. He complained that the money was poor and the bureaucracy maddening, but that it felt good to be earning his own money and was sure he could advance. Septimus actually reminded Harry a bit of Percy, though not as stuffy and uptight. Thankfully for Harry, Bobby had been brought up in a pureblooded house and thus knew quite a bit about traditional festivals. Bobby had ordered from a wizarding butcher in Cornwall, some large hams and two freshly killed geese to roast for lunch. He had grumbled to Harry that next year he would raise geese himself; so as to be sure they were good quality. Harry and Bobby had also decorated the house with sprigs of mistletoe, branches from pines and tiny golden bells. Today Harry was taking Tom on an expedition through the Devon forests in search of a Yule log.

Tom was adorable. Unlike many babies his age, Tom had quite a lot of hair and the black locks curled adorably around his ears. His eyes were a deep chocolate brown and he had creamy coloured skin. As he was a very well fed and cared for little boy, he had chubby cheeks; which were flushed on this cold afternoon, and delightfully chubby arms and legs. In fact, when standing, Tom's legs had a roly poly look about them. At bath time and when changing Tom's clothes, Harry would blow raspberry's on his tummy and pretend to be a growly dragon trying to eat Tom. On these occasions, Tom would squeal and giggle and twist in Harry's arms. He was a very friendly, loveable child. Today, Tom was on a mighty adventure with Dada.

"Okay Tommy, all strapped on tight to Dada. Up we go."

Harry had Tom strapped to his chest with a baby harness and was flying on his Cleensweep to the Devon Forest. Harry had disillusioned them so that Muggles wouldn't be able to see a young man and small boy flying on a broom. The flight was reasonably long, about thirty-five minutes, and Tom spent the time pointing things out to his Dada.

"Ta!" Tom would point.

"House" Harry replied.

"Ba!"

"Pond" and so on. As they hovered over a likely clearing above the forest canopy, Harry held Tom tightly to his chest as they descended. Then, after a quick look around to ensure nothing was dangerous, Harry released Tom from the harness and set him on his feet in the snow. Tom was rugged up in a padded red suit, buttoned up the front with large wooden buttons and had red wellington boots on his feet. He looked like a miniature Santa. Harry cast an Impervius charm on Tom's clothes so that if he fell over in the snow, he wouldn't get soaking wet and pulled a knitted brown beanie (with yellow duckies) onto Tom's head, to keep his head warm.

"Come along Tommy, time to find a big log!" Harry said with enthusiasm, holding his hand out to Tom. Tom grinned up at his Dada, revealing three teeth and tottled off at high speed in the other direction.

"Tommy, come back here. Grrrr, the dragon's gonna get you!" Harry cried, exaggerating his movements, so he had slowed down and pretended to pounce. Tom giggled and waddled off through the snowy clearing towards a large oak tree.

"Ta?"

"Tree" Harry explained. Grasping Tom's hand, Harry slowly walked past the trees looking for one that called out to him as the right one to be a Yule log. Tommy babbled away, experimenting with different sounds. The forest looked beautiful, trees were bare of leaves, stretching branches high up into the sky. The sun shone weakly, providing light and warmth. They walked together, hand in hand, man and child, enjoying the time spent together.

Plop. Tom suddenly sat down in the snow, deciding that it was time for Harry to carry him. Laughing, Harry scooped Tom up into the air and spun around and around. Hefting him onto his shoulders, Harry continued the walk, wincing every time Tom yanked on his hair for attention.

"You'd better watch it; I don't want to be bald!" Harry scolded.

After a little wander, Harry saw a log that he thought would do wonderfully. An oak tree had fallen down in a recent storm and lay directly across his path. It was quite a large tree, and upon examination, the roots appeared to have rotted, explaining why it had fallen. The branches were quite thick, and Harry selected one that had a diameter of 10 inches. Harry put Tom back down on the ground and began to cut through the branch with his wand. (i.e. with a spell) Humming to himself, he didn't notice as Tom decided that he'd rested enough and wanted to explore. It took Harry about five minutes for him to have the log and some extra branches cut and shrunk to fit in his back pack, but in that time, Tom had wandered out of sight.

"Tom! Tommy! Oh Merlin. Tom!" Harry cried out. A mist had crept in, lowering visibility. Starting from the tree, Harry made out the tiny foot prints Tom's wellie's had left and began to jog along, tracing Tom's steps.

"Tom!" he shouted again, hoping that Tom might halt at the sound of his voice. He kept his ears strained, hoping to hear Tom talking to himself in the babble language children know so well. Ducking under a long branch, Harry stopped. Before him Tom sat, in the centre of a ring of stones.

"Da!" Tom cried, reaching hands out to Harry. Harry ran forward and picked Tom up, holding him close to his chest and kissed his head repeatedly.

"Don't go wandering off again. Merlin, I thought I'd lost you." Harry whispered, still hugging Tom tight. Squirming, Tom tried to pull out of Harry's grasp.

"No, no no. You're not going down again. We've got our log, time to go home. Bobby will have some yummy hot custard ready for us to eat."

Tom kept squirming, pointing at something a little way out of the circle. Harry strapped Tom to his chest and cautiously moved forward. On the ground, covered with a thin layer of snow, was a large shape. It moved, up and down, breathing. Pulling out his wand and holding it ready, Harry crept forward, his body angled so Tom was facing away.

Before him lay, partially covered with snow, a foal. Its coat was cream, making it hard to see amongst the snow. It feebly lifted its head at Harry's approach, but was too weary and flopped back down again. Creating a small warded area, Harry placed Tom inside it before examining the little horse. It looked up at him warily.

"Sshhh. Easy." Harry had never handled a horse before, but knew soft voices calmed the animals he had handled. He knelt down and gently scooped the snow off the little horse. He was still young, probably recently weaned. As the snow was moved, Harry saw why the horse was lying down. Its back leg had four large gashes above its hock, as if something had taken a swipe at it. The area was red and inflamed; suggesting that the wound was infected. When it could no longer walk, it had collapsed in the snow ready to die. Harry pondered what to do. He _could_ kill it, putting it out of its misery, or he could try to take it home and heal it. Taking a deep breath, Harry performed an advanced transfiguration, transfiguring the horse to a ceramic statue. Animate to inanimate transfigurations were quite difficult, as if performed incorrectly; the live animal could be killed. Fortunately, Harry had been trained by Albus, a Transfiguration Master, as to the correct way to achieve this. Harry had received extra credit in his NEWTs for performing it correctly. Satisfied that the horse was safe for the moment, Harry dispelled the wards surrounding Tom, who had gotten a bit grumpy waiting, and collected him. Unshrinking his broom, Harry, Tom and their cargo flew back to the farm.

Bobby greeted Harry and Tom at Bolton farm.

"Masters are home now. Oh dear, Master Harry is unhappy. Can Bobby be helping Master Harry?"

"Actually Bobby, yes. Tom found a wounded young horse in the forest. I've brought it back here, but I'll need veterinary/animal healer help to fix it up. Could you take Tommy back to the house? He got a bit cold, wandered off on an adventure when I wasn't looking. Rolled around in the snow, that sort of thing. He could do with a hot bath and a bottle of warm milk. Maybe some of your yummy custard. If you could also give Albus a floo, see if he knows anyone that could help. If you can't reach him, give Dawn a floo. She might know someone. Thanks Bobby."

Bobby took Tommy, tickling him under the chin and telling him how good he was for saving the little horsey. Watching as they made there way back to the house, Harry smiled. Tom really was a wonderful little boy. Shaking his head, Harry entered the barn. It had changed significantly since he first moved in. It was now segmented into various areas, each with its own habitat. Many of the barns inhabitants called greetings to Harry, in particular Sophia, who remained Harry's favourite.

"Greetingsss Harry. What are you doing here today?" 

"SSSophia, I have a sssmall horsse that isss injured. It'll ssstay here until it'sss well."

Harry removed the ceramic horse statue from his pocket and took it to one of the remaining bays in the yard that looked normal. The bay, stable really, was an area of 5 metre by 6 metres and stood 4 metre high, the height of the thatched roof. The floor of the stable was covered in clean straw, underneath was compacted soil. Harry transfigured a stone into a trough and placed it in the far left corner before filling it with water from the hose. Then closing the door, with him on the outside and the statue inside, he reversed the transfiguration.

The little horse lay still against the straw, and for a moment Harry believed he had botched the transfiguration and killed the poor thing, but it took a deep breath and tried to raise its head. The time it had spent as a statue, snug in Harry's pocket, had obviously warmed it up, reversing some of the lethargy it had suffered due to cold. Its eyes looked glassy, a sign of the infection and fever in its leg, but it began to struggle, determined to get up in this strange new environment.

"Sshh. Easy boy. It's okay. You're safe."

The horse turned its head, ears flicking at the sound of Harry's voice. It snorted, and heaved itself up from the ground. Wild-eyed, it snorted and sniffed around the stable, its nose curling up at the new scents. Suddenly the barn door slid open and in walked Albus and another man. He looked a lot older than Albus, with a shiny bald head surrounded with thin brown hair, liberally streaked with grey. He wasn't particularly tall, similar in height to Harry, which was only 5'10. He wore a grey knitted jumper made from a coarse wool, and grey trousers. Overtop he had on a leather apron, which was tied around his waist.

"Harry, Bobby flooed me about your latest acquisition and not being a horse man myself, I contacted Thurstan Hagrid. He lives over in Cornwall and is a blacksmith by trade."

"Hello, I'm Harry."

"Pleased ta meet ya Harry. So, this here's the little horse. Aye, she's a beauty. Probably about 7 or eight months old. A Dartmoor pony. Poor little dear. Will ya come in with me, she'll be more used ta ya scent, bit more familiar like."

"I thought it was a boy."

"Nope, a sweet little filly you've got here."

Harry nodded and Thurstan and Harry entered the stall slowly, making movement quietly and carefully, so as not to spook the horse.

"Aye, she's a pretty one. Easy girlie. I'm gonna cast a somnus spell on her now, it'll act like a sedative. Make her all sleepy. When that happens, slip this halter onto her head. Then we'll take a look at that leg."

Thurstan cast the spell and handed Harry a woven rope halter to put on the horse. Making a guess on how it went on, Harry buckled it in place and stood holding the lead.

"Good job Harry. Ah, see here, that's a claw mark. Four stripes running in tha same direction. Quite a large predator did this. 'Cept, we aint got no natural, normal predators out this way. Nope, this was caused by sumthin big and mean. Probably happened about three or four days ago, the way it's healed a bit, and the infection settled in."

Harry counted back the days. The full moon was three days ago. He'd noticed when he was at the restaurant with Albus that the night was bright because the moon was out.

"Werewolf?" he asked.

"Aye, probably lad. This little girl probably was still with mum, 'cept mum got eaten, and this'n escaped with a scratch."

The scratch was about 15 centimetres long.

Thurstan began pulling various herbs out of his apron pocket, and mixed them up in a small bowl, adding water and grease.

"This'll patch her up. Will leave a scar, can't be helping that, but should drive out the infection and cause the gashes to close up. She's probably hungry; give her a bit of hay, fresh water in the trough? Good. I'll pop round again after Yule to see how it heals."  
Thurstan shook Harry's hand and left.

"What do I do know?" Harry asked, still holding the rope.

"Give her a stroke, I suppose. Then, take off the lead and get out. The spell should wear off in ten minutes."

"I meant about the werewolf. The werewolf attacking horses a forty minute broom flight from my house!"

"Ah, that. Wards I suppose. And keep aware that someone in the area is a monster."

Harry looked at Albus, startled at that comment. This was one difference between Albus and Professor Dumbledore.

"You mean, 'someone in the area turns into a monster once a month.'"

Albus looked a tad embarrassed.

"Well, yes. That is true. It is just superstition on my part that the bite influences the man's personality. Well done pointing that out to me."

Harry nodded. The horse, well pony really as it was very small, became more aware. Harry gave it some hay, and decided that the best thing was to leave it in peace for the moment, to allow it to get used to the stall. He took Albus' hand and they walked back up to the house together.

"I'm glad that the pony will be alright. However, I should get back to the school. My absence may be noted, and while school isn't in session, there are still students in the castle. I'll floo back to Hogwarts now, and see you in two days for lunch. I'll investigate what wards to put up to prevent the werewolf accessing your property, and we could put them up then."

Harry thanked Albus, and they exchanged a brief kiss. Harry smiled.

"I like doing that."

Albus flooed out through the kitchen fireplace after a quick cuddle with Tom, and another, longer kiss from Harry.

******

"Welcome. Have a merry Yule. Please, take a seat in the lounge. Can I get you any refreshments?"

It was 11 o'clock on the 21st December, Yule, and Harry was greeting his guests. Albus had arrived early and the Williams were just arriving. Bobby had everything ready, and the table was soon groaning under the weight of two glazed roast geese, ham, stuffed mushrooms, hazelnut and mushroom roll and seasoned vegetables. The table was decorated with a scarlet tablecloth, gold plates and goblets (from the Evangelos vault) and candlesticks. The candles were a special scented blend for Yule, purchased from Vesta. Mistletoe and evergreen boughs adorned the walls. Chatting merrily, the y took their places around the table. Tom sat in a little wooden high chair, but Asta was a big girl now, and had her own chair. Harry cleared his throat and began:

Everyone please hold hands for the blessing.  
Spirit – we call upon thee to give thanks for your protection and guidance throughout the year.  
Wind, Fire, Water & Earth, we call upon you to give thanks for the bounty we are about to receive.  
The great God & Mother Goddess we call upon thee and we offer thanks for your balance of light & dark.  
We call upon the One God, the Universe to bless everyone present, and those not physically present, who are always with us in our hearts.  
May there be more positive energy and less negativity. May there be more LOVE as LOVE is the greatest power of all!

May there be Peace, Love, & Joy in the world and in our lives not just today but everyday!  
We will it so, so be it!  
Blessed Be!

Blessing by Silver Raven Moon from: .

"Blessed Be!" they all intoned, before pulling out chairs and taking a seat. Bobby popped around, helping to serve everyone, carving the geese and providing cups of mulled wine.

Albus leaned over and murmured to Harry "You did very well on your first Yule blessing. Well done."

Harry blushed as Albus' beard gently tickled his cheeks. Dawn spotted this and cried

"Whoohoo. What's lover boy saying that has you so flustered?"

"Nothing, just commenting on my skill."

"Your skill. I just bet he is. No wonder you're blushing."

Vesta stepped in, "Now shush Dawn, and don't embarrass Harry and the Professor."

"Not that kind of skill woman. You are quite ribald today." Harry replied.

Dawn raised her glass in cheer to Harry and Albus:

"To the newest couple. May they have prosperity in the upcoming year!"

Harry laughed and in turn proposed a toast to Dawn:

"May she find herself a man, so she stops bugging me for gossip!"

This cry was cheered by Vesta and Albus as well.

Hours later, groaning with full bellies, they all exchanged gifts. As expected, Asta and Tom had the most gifts; Asta because she was a child and Tom because it was soon his birthday. Harry had gotten Hector some special dyes and essences for his candle making, as it was him who crafted the candles, Vesta ran the shop. Vesta received a light grey angora shawl, and Dawn received a similar one in a pale blue. Harry also gave Dawn a pair of silver earrings shaped like stars. Albus had been hard to shop for, as their relationship was so new. Harry had originally bought Albus a new book that had been released about Transfiguration and Animagery by Daphne Midas and some socks, but as they were now a couple, had made a dash to the shops for another gift. He had eventually purchased a sterling silver cuff bracelet with peridot and onyx stones set in it. Harry had wrapped it with gold paper and gave it to Albus now.

"It's beautiful Harry. Thank you." Albus leaned forward and gave Harry a chaste kiss on the lips.  
"Now it's your turn." Albus handed Harry a wooden box, the size of a shoe box but much deeper. Lifting the hinge, Harry saw that whatever was inside had been carefully wrapped in silk and had a warming charm placed upon it. Harry unwrapped the silk and gasped.

"It's a silver egg!" The egg was the size of an ostrich egg, but appeared to be made from pure silver.

"It's an occamy egg Harry. I know you had planned not to continue with potion creatures, but this occamy can be a companion, especially with your gifts."

Harry leaped into Albus' lap, peppering his face with kisses.

"Get a room!" murmured Dawn cheekily.

"Thank you so much. This must have been so expensive."

Albus brushed off the praise but was quite thrilled. This had been the happiest Yule he remembered. Certainly the happiest since his mother had died.

Albus had bought small gifts for the Williams; quills, perfume and exotic fruit like mango and papaya. For Asta, he had given a doll that had been animated to say "mama" and "Love you" and a few other words. Tom received clothes, wooden puzzles, soft toys and simple books for his bedtime; 'Ysolde the unicorn's Luna dance' and 'Pip the Pixie makes Potions'. By five o'clock, Dawn, Asta, Vesta and Hector were saying there farewells and flooing home. Albus was staying the night, in a guest room next to Harry's. Still full, they ate leftovers for dinner, gave Tom a bath and read 'Pip' to him before bed. Bobby was distracted from his cleaning and thanked for providing such wonderful food and making the day successful, and was given his gifts; some new fabric to make pillowcases out of, in red and green brocade, from Harry and from Albus, a sewing kit with thread of various colours and textures and different types of wool. Then, Harry and Albus retired to Harry's study/sitting room for some kissing and cuddling before they went to bed. (In separate rooms!) As Harry lay snug and warm under his quilt, he thought: _'What a wonderful day.'_ Harry hadn't thought about the future even once today. That was the past. He was right where he belonged.

**AN: Bracelet bought for Albus looks like the one found here:**

**.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14:**

**AN: Sorry it's been a while since the last update, uni has finished and my brain took a holiday. Hopefully it's come back now. Thanks to all the terrific reviews; people saying they enjoy the writing, the pairing, or a combination of both. This chapter is rather short, it was very difficult to write and I just wanted to get it done and posted so I could move forward. Hopefully more will be up within the week. **

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In the early months of 1928, Harry was quite busy. After the recommendation by Albus, Harry had begun correspondence with Filius Flitwick to become his dueling apprentice. Harry had not known much about dueling from before, though he had heard that Flitwick was once an International Dueling Champion. Dueling tournaments were actually a form of sport. Witches and wizards pay to watch the events, competitors pay an entry fee to compete and winners are awarded monetary prizes. Top duelers in 1928 could earn astounding amounts of money for performances to the amount of 25 galleons per winning performance. However, as an apprentice, a third of his winnings would go to Flitwick. Filius was at present, only a finalist in the 1925, 1926 and 1927 International Dueling Championships, though he hoped to get the title this year. He was at the top of his game. Harry had spent the months while he was corresponding with Filius practicing his spell casting. Albus and he had cleared a field, transfigured the surface solid and smooth, and practiced outside. Albus was an excellent dueler, though he didn't compete, and made use of transfigurations in his fights. Harry learned a lot from Albus; both spells and rules of engagement. It got to the stage where Harry could win one in three bouts against Albus. Harry had the raw power, he just lacked spell knowledge.

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Harry had arranged to meet with Flitwick at a dueling hall in Manchester on March 15th. Dawn was watching Tom for Harry. Tom had become quite mobile. He could run and climb steps and would pick up sticks from the ground and point with them, mimicking what he had seen the grownups do. While Bobby was an excellent child minder, Dawn loved spending time with Tom, as it gave Asta the experience of being with another child, even if it was one so much younger than her. Playing with Tom meant that Asta learned to share toys, play gentle and she often enjoyed pretending to have tea parties with Tom in the garden. After Dawn and Asta's arrival, Harry kissed Tom on the top of his head, admonished him, "Be a good boy Tom" and apparated to the dueling Hall. Flitwick was waiting for Harry outside. **(AN: Flitwick's appearance will follow descriptions from JK, not movie Flitwick)** Flitwick was a very small man, around 4ft8' tall. He was thin but his body was conditioned with lean muscles. He was still a young wizard; he was soon to turn 35. His hair was dark brown; he had blue eyes and a long pointy nose. He didn't have a beard, and it looked odd to Harry. He was wearing dark brown dueling robes that had seen better days; they had a couple of tears and faded areas. He marched determinedly toward Harry had stuck out his hand.

"Harry Ashby? I'm Filius Flitwick. Though if I take you as my apprentice, you'll call me God! Just kidding, Filius is fine. Were the coordinates accurate enough for you? Good. Shall we go inside and see what you can do?"

"Yes sir, I mean Filius. Sure."

Filius led Harry into the hall. It was brightly lit and separated into several areas. There was a main arena, where duelers performed on a large dueling platform surrounded by seating. There were also several rooms set up as practice rooms, with a slightly smaller dueling platform. Filius led Harry to one of the smaller dueling rooms.

"I've had quite a few people approach me about becoming my apprentice. So far, I've not accepted anyone. Most are youngsters with delusions of grandeur. Dueling can bring about incredible fame, money and witches, but more importantly, it allows you to further and better yourself. I've looked up your NEWT scores in Charms, Defense and Transfigurations and they are very good. But it remains to be seen if you can duel. So, if you want to do your warm-up, in 10 minutes, we duel."

Harry went over to the side of the platform. He performed some simple stretching exercises, lunges etc to loosen himself up. Then he cast a couple of simple spells with his wand; lumos and wingardium leviosa. He jogged up and down on the spot for a couple of minutes, stretched again, then stepped up onto the platform.

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(Harry will be in bold, Filius italics)

Harry stood on one end of the raised platform, Flitwick the other. A loud voice said'

"Bow to each other, then on the count of three, begin. One, Two, THREE!"

"**Expelliarmus"**

"_A__qualis paries"_

Harry dodged to the side as a wall of water rushed towards him.

"**Avitus impetus"** Birds shot out of Harry's wand and began dive bombing Filius, scratching and stabbing at his hands and face. Almost immediately, Harry was thrown back by a bombarda spell cast by Filius. Harry quickly jumped up and cast back.

"**Incoho lapis"**

Filius dodged and the wooden chair behind him turned to stone. He frowned and cast a series of spells quickly at Harry.

" _Silencio. Expelliarmus. Incoho anas. Creo minimus."_

Harry managed to dodge the first two hexes, cast off one of his own, before being hit by the last two. Instead of Harry standing there, there was a very small black duck with green banding on its neck. It was about as big as a canary. Flitwick wasn't much better off. Before Harry's transformation into avian form, he'd cast a spell at Filius: Elephantus naris. Which had hit Filius. So the winner of the duel was in fact Filius Flitwick, however, he had a giant elephant trunk hanging off the front of his face which had dragged him down onto the floor, making him unable to move away. Filius struggled to get his face off the ground for a while, but was unsuccessful. He attempted to snort in surrender, but what came out was a deafeningly loud trumpet. The duck quacked loudly and took off it flight, attempting to find a way to escape. The door opened quickly, and the referee came in.

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"Oh dear. Oops, better close the door. (The duck narrowly missed making his escape.) Now, Finite Incantatem!" He pointed his spell at the small duck, but that just unshrunk Harry, leaving him as a normal size duck. The referee cast it again at Harry, and with a flash of light, Harry dropped back to the ground, human again. The referee then turned to Filius, took a camera out of his pocket, took a photo, then reversed the transfiguration.

"Hey! Give that camera here!" Filius said, darting up off the ground in an attempt to take the camera.

"Uh uh! I've waited a while to see a spell land you like that. If it had been a few seconds earlier, you could have lost the duel, duck or no duck."

Harry slowly sat up.

"Ahhh. My head. My shoulder." He began to get up off the ground, stretching as he went and rubbed at his head.

"Well done old chap. That was splendid. I see that your marks weren't exaggerated. I'm sure that you'd make an excellent dueler with a bit more time. I am the current British Dueling title holder. Why, that elephant nose was very effective. I could see you, speak; though not well; but I was unable to move around as the weight of the trunk was too great. Very unexpected."

Harry blushed at the praise.

"Thanks. So, does that mean you'll take me under your wing, so to speak?"

Filius chuckled.

"Wing. Duck. Ha ha, yes, very funny. Yes well, you mentioned in your correspondence that you had custody of a small nephew. If you became my apprentice, we'd spend the next month here in London, but after that, the next seven months will be in various tournaments across Europe, culminating in the International Championships in Monte Carlo. How would you cope with the boy then?"

"I have a house elf. He would be able to oversee Tom throughout the time I'm training and competing. I thought, if you didn't mind, that we could word the apprenticeship so that if it failed to work, we could agree to dissolve it after one season. I do find dueling fascinating, but I also want to be sure that Tom doesn't suffer."

"Hmm. Quite admirable. Well, I have never taken an apprentice before, but I do like you. As long as the elf works out, I'm sure we can give it a try."

With a flourish, Filius conjured up a contract, stating that Harry Ashby would apprentice with Filius Flitwick for the standard three years or until deemed a master. There was also a clause that if this negatively impacted on the upbringing of one Thomas Ashby, the apprenticeship would be dissolved after one dueling season, with no repercussions on either side. He handed the parchment to Harry to read through. It stated that Filius was responsible for Harry's accommodation, that Filius would train Harry, enter him in tournaments and receive 35% of Harry's winnings. Harry and his entourage's (Bobby and Tom) living expenses would be paid for by Harry. Harry decided it was acceptable, and took the pen offered to him by Filius, and signed. Filius then signed, the contract rolled up and disappeared again with a flash. At Harry's questioning look, Filius said,

"The contract gets magically registered at the Ministry, in the Department of Marriage and Bonds. Now, we have a month until we will travel to France. We'll leave by portkey on the 12th April, the first tournament in France is on the 18th, then another on the 26th and 27th. After that, we'll travel to Switzerland and spend two months competing in various tournaments there and in Italy, then Denmark, Germany and finally to Monte Carlo for the Championships in November. We'll meet here every day for three hours of training before we leave and I'll tell you what you'll need to bring and organise for the journey. I'll also give you texts to study on spell casting, different spells, strategising etc. Okay? Well, tomorrow, 9 am until 12 noon. Good day Apprentice Ashby." Filius grinned at Harry, nodded to him and left, surreptitiously rubbing his neck, which was sore from the awkward angle his head had hit the floor.

"Bye. See you tomorrow!" Harry called out. He'd done it. He'd become Filius Flitwick's first apprentice. Harry smiled happily to himself as he made his way to the shower room. Suddenly though he realised, he was going to have to break the news of his departure to Albus, Vesta and dawn. He wasn't looking forward to that.

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Spells invented by me for use in this chapter:

"_A__qualis paries":_ water wall

"**Incoho lapis"**: turn to stone

"_Incoho anas"_: turn into duck

"_Creo minimus"_: make small.

"**Elephantus naris**": elephant nose

The other spells mentioned can be found on the hplexicon page for spells


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

**AN: Thank you for all the kind well wishers from readers. My dad is a teeny weenie bit better; at least he's lucid right now. It's not a stroke or brain tumor. Could be Parkinson's, we still don't know. He'll be in hospital at least another month. I hope you find this next chapter enjoyable.**

Albus Dumbledore; Transfiguration Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, discoverer (well, co-discoverer) of the twelve uses of dragon's blood and all around nice guy was outside in his garden, not enjoying the lovely summer afternoon. It was mid-July and at the height of Britain's summer. The weather was gloriously sunny; most days were reaching 28 degrees centigrade. Today was one such day. So Albus had decided to go outside to potter around in his garden. He was quite fond of his garden. It didn't really have much in the way of practical use, unlike Harry's. No, Albus's garden was a riotous colour. Flowers of every imaginable size and colour were planted in beds interspaced with green rolling lawn. It was the kind of garden he'd always dreamed of when he was a child. Albus loved colour. He used it frequently to cheer himself up. A good indication of his mood was the clothes he wore. If it was lurid and fanciful, he was depressed. If it was plainer, he was content. Today he was wearing a particularly fetching red robe with flashy gold phoenix's decorating it. Unfortunately, while such a robe would ordinarily cheer him up, today it only reminded him of his absent Harry.

Harry had been traveling Europe with Tom, Bobby and the handsome Filius Flitwick for several months now. Albus had thought it a brilliant idea and had actively encouraged and helped Harry prepare for the dueling tournaments. He had wanted badly to travel after finishing Hogwarts himself and was glad that Harry had the opportunity to experience new horizons and fulfill his obligations, yet…he was worried. All the arguments he'd used to convince Harry to spend a year traveling now seemed flimsy. Harry had sent him many letters, several each week and Harry certainly appeared to be doing well. He'd blitzed several of his tournaments in France and was doing well in Switzerland as well. While he wasn't winning all his bouts, he was putting in a great show and Filius was proud of him. Filius this, Filius that. Filius thinks I've gained fitness, muscles and flexibility. Filius is so brilliant at Charms. Stupid Filius and his young charms, Albus sighed. He missed Harry. He knew he was feeling insecure, but he'd never really had a successful relationship. His fling with Gellert had been intense and physical but brief. He'd had a few encounters over the years with likeminded wizards and had dated a couple of witches, but nothing ever became serious and he'd never felt the depth of feeling that he had for Harry. The closest was with Gellert, but he wasn't sure if that had been romanticised with time and adolescent feelings. What he felt for Harry and Tom went beyond anything else he'd experienced. He wasn't sure what had drawn him to Harry that afternoon in Hogsmeade, but he was glad it had. Harry made him open up and feel again, eliciting confidences without meaning to. And now he was on the Continent with other men.

Albus shook his head. He had to get out of this funk. He wasn't sure why he was feeling so low. He scanned the blue sky above him. No hint of a post bird in sight. No clouds. Just sun and blue blue sky. Albus bent down and picked up his hat and trowel and headed inside his cottage. It was small, two bedrooms and cozy and cheerfully decorated. He went into the bathroom and gazed in the mirror. He stared at himself, trying to see what Harry saw. His eyes stood out a piercing blue beneath quite heavy eyebrows. Perhaps they could be refined. His beard was auburn and clipped reasonably short. Did it make him look old? He turned his face left and right. 'Yes" he thought, 'the beard does age me.' He took up his wand and pointed it to his face. Murmuring the incantation, he began to shave the beard off. 'Do I leave sideburns?'He thought. In the end, Albus decided on small sideburns and left his beard as a neatly trimmed goatee. Looking again he thought he looked younger. He smiled at himself in the mirror. Hmmm. Maybe not a goatee. It looked slightly sinister. Taking up his wand again, Albus shaved the rest of the beard. He laughed at himself with a moustache and finished leaving his face smooth. 'Huh. That's certainly different!' Though, the beard had left his cheeks and chin paler than the rest of his face. Casting another charm, he gradually darkened his skin until there were no visible tan lines. Nodding, he smiled at himself again in the mirror. "Hello sexy. Grrr, why were you hiding under all that fur?" the mirror cooed at him. Grimacing, Albus cast a silencing charm at it. He smiled again. His teeth gleamed white and dimples appeared. Yes, he was very happy and felt he looked years younger. His attention then turned to his hair. It was still auburn though there was a tad of grey at his temples. It was long, past his shoulders and had split ends. Should he cut it? Harry had quite short hair. Purebloods wore their hair long, but Albus was a half blood. Kendra had been muggleborn. He took his wand and cut a few inches off. Now it sat at shoulder length. He conjured a tie of black lather and tied his hair back. Yes, much younger. He could pass for thirty now, he decided.

Albus left the bathroom and wandered into his bedroom. The bed was a simple wooden framed double bed with a yellow comforter with a large bee in the centre. He had a wooden wardrobe and chest of drawers and a rocking chair he liked to sit and read in. He opened up the wardrobe and looked at his robes hanging up. He was quite fond of robes and had quite a few. Twenty five to be precise. And all were in bright colours. Three were plain; the other twenty two were patterned, some quite luridly. 'How could Harry take me seriously in such fanciful, ridiculous clothes?' Albus began to pull robes out of the wardrobe. He selected the plain ones, then the ones with minor embroidery around cuffs and collar. There was one, in blue, with a silver unicorn embroidered in the centre. He dithered but decided to keep that one too. The other ten he took outside and burnt. Then, he stripped off his red and gold phoenix robe and threw that on the bonfire as well. He stood in the afternoon sun, barefoot and wearing only his silken undergarments. Which was when he heard the pop of apparition just behind him.

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Harry had missed Albus. He enjoyed immensely his time in France and Switzerland and was learning heaps from Filius, but he missed his quiet times with Albus. Dinner, reading, cuddles, 'special cuddles'. Especially the special cuddles. So he decided to take a day to return to England to see Albus face to face. Letters from Albus were all well and good, but he wanted to remind Albus of Harry. He was worried that while he was away Albus might have changed his mind, found someone older and more knowledgeable. So he planned to remind him of why youthful and exuberant was better. And show off his increased flexibility and toned body. Following advice from some of the other blokes in the tournament, he'd procured Albus a gift to let him know Harry had been thinking of him. He'd seen it in a robe shop in Bern and had bought it thinking how well it would suit Albus. It was a lightweight summer robe, made of some kind of floaty silky fabric. It was a butter yellow colour that he hoped wouldn't clash with Albus's hair. It had tiny glass beaded bumblebees around the cuffs and hem. It was bright, shiny and totally Albus. He also had a leather head band dyed yellow to put around Albus' head, which also had bees on it. He procured an international portkey to London, arriving about two in the afternoon. He bumped into Septimus on the way out of the ministry and had stopped for a quick pint with him, exchanging tales. Septimus complaining about some of the floo riders and Harry described some of the bouts he'd participated in. They'd parted after an hour and Harry decided to apparate to Honey House. Visualising his destination, he popped away, appearing in the garden as planned, with a lovely view indeed!

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Albus turned around slowly. 'Dear Merlin. He was nearly naked and a visitor had turned up. What if it was the headmaster? Would he live it down?' As he completed his turn, he was tackled by a dark haired man.

"Albus, what a wonderful greeting. Had you been tipped that I was coming?"

What. "Harry? Harry, you're here. Merlin Harry I've missed you."

The next sentence was cut off by Harry enthusiastically kissing him.

"I've missed you so much. You look glorious. Standing there, the flames illuminating your body. I want you!"

Harry began to kiss along Albus's jaw and collarbone.

"You are gorgeous!"

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To see deleted scene, go to my home page.

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Harry gazed fondly at Albus.

"I notice you've done something different to your face. I like it. Shows off your dimples. But I'm glad you've left your hair longish. Suits you," he began to nuzzle against Albus' ear.

"What were you burning?"

Albus looked at Harry. "I thought that perhaps I needed a change. Something more decorous. So I got rid of some of my robes. Why?"

"What! Which ones? I like your robes. They are your statement. Not the red one?"

Albus looks embarrassed.

"I though perhaps you'd like me better if I didn't dress so colourfully. I admit I was feeling low and paranoid when I burned them. I wondered why you were with me, and not on of the young men over there. Like Flitwick."

"Flitwick! Flitwick's a straight as they come! A regular Casanova. And besides, I like my men taller than me. Funny though. I was thinking the same."

"That you were worried I'd run off with Filius?"

"No, silly. That you'd wonder why you were with someone younger, immature."

"Though amazingly flexible."

"Git!"

"I am very happy with you. And if you are happy with me, then we should put aside our worries. I'm glad you visited. Can you stay long?"

"Overnight. I have a portkey back to Bern from London at 10 am. Then back to training for the next bout in two days."

"Well then, shall we go inside? I'm starting to get itchy from the grass. We could have dinner, then catch up some more."  
Harry grinned wickedly at Albus.

"Care to share a bath?"

The pair went into the cottage, laughing, their previous worries banished.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Harry carefully folded the last of Tommy's things and placed them in the bedside drawer.

"Bobby could do this for Master" the elf offered.

"I know you could Bobby, but this is symbolic. I'm putting Tommy's clothes away in his bedroom again to show that we're finished. We are back home for good. And as much as I have enjoyed and learned these past three years, I am glad to be settling down again."

"And Master Harry did very well. Bobby does enjoy polishing Master Harry's trophies and medals. They collect dust bunnies which Bobby is happy to chase away!"

Harry smiled wryly. House elves were weird, no matter how long one had to get used to them.

"And you take excellent care of my trophies too. Now, how about some dinner. Do you have enough time to whip something up, or should we pop out to the Leaky Cauldron?"

"There is plenty of time. Now Bobby is back home, Master Harry can eat as much home made food as Bobby can make. No more nasty café food! Fresh, home cooked food now for Tommy and Master. Master can finish here; Bobby will have dinner ready in 20 minutes."

Bobby popped away and Harry returned to unpacking Tommy's things. He unshrunk the toy box with train set, teddy bears, wooden soldiers and building blocks and put it in the corner. He placed Tommy's special night globe on the bedside table and filled a glass of water and cast a stay-cool charm on it. This Harry placed next to the bed and within reach of Tom. Looking up, Harry grinned as he heard the elephantine sound of a small boys footsteps.

"Daddy! Bobby is making dinner and I wanna cook too! Can I?"  
"What's the magic word?"

Tommy looked at Harry quizzically.

"Umm, which one?"

Harry smacked his palm to his forehead.

"It's a muggle saying. It means 'say please'"  
"Oh. Please can I help Bobby make dinner? Please!"  
Harry gave his assent.

"Yay!" Tommy cried and he raced off back down the hallway to the kitchen.

"I wonder just how edible dinner will be now?" Harry muttered to himself.

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*

*

He finished the last few things in Tommy's room and then made his way to his own room. The house was still in excellent condition. While he, Tommy and Bobby had been traveling Europe for dueling competitions, Dawn and Asta had house sat the farm. Dawn had stayed in one guest room and Asta the other for the past three years. It had provided Harry with the security of knowing his home was in safe hands and given Dawn and Asta an opportunity to live in the country at very little cost. Dawn had insisted on paying a token rent fee which Harry had countered with paying Dawn a wage for her taking care of his menagerie of potions critters. His favourite by far was the occamy that he had received from Albus the Christmas of 1927. She had bonded to Harry as a familiar and had traveled with them through Europe, causing great fuss to be made. The occamy was a beautifully blue and green plumed winged snake with two hind legs. As she was still very young, only three years old, she was only about 4 foot long, though by the time she was 10, she would reach 15 feet. Though most of that would be tail. She had very thin light bones that aided her in flying and also meant that she wasn't too heavy and at present Harry could still carry her around his shoulders. His other favourite was Sophia, the boomslang he had liberated from the Forbidden Forest and ultimately from the potions cabinet. She too had traveled with Harry and got on quite well with Nila, the occamy.

Dawn had started her own apothecary in the town of Ilfracombe. She stocked ready made potions on shelf as well as ingredients, cauldrons, knives, stirring rods and of course candles. It was only a small shop, and also had a small area that was accessible to muggles which stocked 'herbal remedies' but it was adequate for her and Asta and also provided a service to the Ilfracombe wizarding community. She had also met a wizard called Daniel Toke, an Obliviator in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. They had courted for several months, before Dawn had accepted Daniel's proposal. They married in the January of 1930, and Dawn was currently pregnant with their first child, a brother for Asta due in March. They had continued living at Bolton Farm until November 1930, when they had moved out and into a three bedroom cottage in Ilfracombe. Therefore, they were reasonably close to where Harry lived, though of course, apparation and floo travel made everything perfectly accessible. Dawn had continued to keep an eye on the farm until Harry's return.

Harry had also kept in touch with Thurstan Hagrid, the blacksmith who had helped him heal the attacked weanling three years earlier. Harry had sent him a giant baby rattle as a gift when Rubeus was born in December 1928. Harry had had it made specially in Germany, where many human/giant offspring occurred. It was made of dragon bone so that it was extra strong and durable. He had occasionally visited Thurstan and Rubeus and 'little' Rubeus Hagrid was taller than Tommy, even though there was a two year age gap. Fridwulfa, Hagrid's mother, Harry had met too. She was reasonably attractive; if you liked your women 15 feet tall and with a rough, boulder look about her. Fridwulfa was one of the most refined giants Harry had ever met. She was originally from the Netherlands, and was semi educated. She was barely literate, but had table manners, dressed neatly and could speak a pidgin-English. She had wild black hair and dark eyes and was strong in feature, not pretty. She towered over Thurstan, and Harry sometimes wondered how the union came to be. In truth, Harry found her a tad scary.

*

*

*

Harry finished getting his room set up and headed to the kitchen. There, he heard a murmur of voices. He pushed open the door and was greeted to the cheery sight of Bobby cooking what looked to be a casserole, and Tommy sitting on Albus' knee at the table.

"Daddy, look who's here. Unca Albus came to eat!" Tommy declared, "I helped Bobby make it! I washed the carrots and 'tatoes."

Harry greeted Albus with a smile and a chaste kiss. Albus still taught at Hogwarts as the Transfiguration Professor. He was also now Head of Gryffindor, a position that gave him many a headache and required massages from Harry. In particular, Mathius Prewett's youngest son was a terror; a prankster on par with Fred and George. However, in this era, punishments for school infractions were a lot harder. Filch wasn't kidding when he reminisced about manacles and thumbscrews. While not used now, there were rooms in Hogwart's dungeons that misbehaving students were locked after a caning. It was a practice favoured by Dippet, but greatly frowned on by Albus.

"Can you stay long?" Harry asked Albus.

"Unfortunately not. While the term is winding down, there is still a few weeks until holidays commence for Yule and homework to mark. I thought I'd floo over and have dinner before returning to it. Dippet isn't overly pleased with me at present and I'd hate to give him cause for more."

"_Professor_ Dippet Albus. What did you do to piss him off?"

"Intervened with Harold Prewett's punishment again. Provided a healing salve after the caning. 'How can boys learn if the pain isn't there to remind them?' Poor Harold, he's a good boy, just highly strung and active. Quite brilliant at transfiguration, but unfortunately uses it for tricks and tomfoolery. And of course, Dippet has been disgusted with me since news of our relationship was made public."

"Ahhh." Harry said, "Sorry."

*

*

*

Harry had done spectacularly at his dueling tournaments. He had actually finished out the last year of his apprenticeship undefeated and had came second at the International dueling Championships this year. He had been cheerfully beaten by his mentor Filius, now a two time winner of the International Dueling Championships and third time winner of Best Smile in _Which Witch_. Harry had also become reasonably noticed in the press. English newspapers and wireless shows found him fascinating. Dueling champion, holder of the Evangelos Wizengamet seat and quite photogenic. He had also appeared to be single, until a French reporter had taken a picture of Harry and Albus together on a beach last summer and been outed as partners. While this wasn't a huge problem, it did have some negative impacts. The majority of wizards had no problems with homosexuality, however, a few of the purebloods did. Homosexuality meant not continuing bloodlines. Headmaster Dippet was from one such pureblood family and had become a lot harsher with Albus as a result. Previously Albus had been a favourite, now he had to work harder than ever to achieve his previous results. Thankfully, the Hogwart's Board of Governor's were not fussed, so it was just Armando Dippet that Albus had to worry about. Harry had been largely unaffected by the outing.

"Never mind. He'll retire eventually."

"Dinner is being ready now sirs," Bobby said and indeed, he had set the table in the dining room and plates laden with rich beef casserole, crusty bread and salad sat upon the dark wood table. Tommy, Harry and Albus sat down and ate with gusto.

"This is brilliant Bobby," Harry said.

"I helped, didn't I?" Tommy said.

"Yes, little Master Tommy helped very much. Chopped carefully the carrots and potatoes."

Harry looked at his casserole. The carrots and potatoes were cut in odd shapes, not the usual neat cubes that Bobby cut.

"Yes Tommy. Delicious carrots." Albus said, winking at Harry.

Dinner was soon finished, and a trifle served for dessert. Afterwards, Albus and Harry drank tea while Tommy played on the floor with his toy quidditch players.

'It was a very pleasant way to spend an evening', Harry thought to himself.

*

*

*

At eight o'clock, Harry sent Tommy off to brush his teeth, wash his face and change into his 'jam jams'. Then Harry and Albus joined Tommy in his room for story time.

"Can I have Beedle the bard tonight Daddy?" Tommy begged.

"Sure. How about I read 'The wizard and the hopping pot' and Uncle Albus reads you 'The fountain of fair fortune'?"

"'Kay" Tommy said sleepily as he snuggled deep into his bed. For different reasons, neither Harry nor Albus had ever read 'The tale of the three brothers' to Tom.

Harry began, "There was once a kindly old wizard who used his magic generously and wisely for the benefit of his neighbours. Rather than reveal the true source of his power, he pretended that his potions, charms and antidotes sprang ready-made from the little cauldron he called his lucky cooking pot…." (Excerpt from JKR, Tales of Beedle the Bard)

"But from that day forward, the wizard helped the villagers like his father before him, lest the pot cast off its slipper, and begin to hop once more. The end." Harry looked down at Tommy. He was sound asleep.

"He nodded off just after the donkey was summoned," Albus explained.

"Ahh. Well, you'll be recruited to read to him the next time then. Come on, do you have time for another cup of tea before you go?"

Albus nodded and the pair went to the sitting room where Bobby had already lain out a tea service.

*

*

*

"Sorry that you're still having problems with Dippet." Harry offered.

"It's of no consequence. It'll blow over soon enough, and if not, well he's old. He'll retire or die within the next decade. Hopefully." Albus replied with a chuckle, "Anyway, the companionship I get from Tommy and yourself more than makes up for any problems with Armando."

"And the special cuddles?"

"Oh yes. Definitely the special cuddles."  
They both laughed. Harry's euphemism had been used as an explanation to Tommy as to why 'Unca Albus' was staying over. Tommy now understood that Albus was Daddy's special friend, just like Uncle Daniel was Auntie Dawn's special friend. But that neither Harry or Albus would be presenting Tommy with a baby brother or sister.

"So Harry, what are your plans now? More tournaments next season?"

"No. I think I'm done with them. It was more the knowledge gained, rather than the competition that drew me. And times are hard in Europe. Germany in particular is on the brink of collapse. Muggles are stampeding in the streets. You can see them with wheelbarrow loads of money, just to buy a loaf of bread. While it's not greatly affecting France and Spain, wizarding communities are tightening their belts. No, I think I'll stay home for a few years. I've seen enough of the world. Tommy's old enough to start school, so I'd like him to do that here. I've been offered a job at the Ministry. Don't laugh! The Ministry has offered me a position in their Experimental Charm's Department. Very hush hush. Filius' recommendation was the clincher. It's a new department, in between the Department of Mysteries and the Ministry. I start in the new year. Monday to Thursday, 9 until 5. Tommy is four in a couple of weeks. He'll be attending day school in Ilfracombe with Asta in January. It's steady work which will pay the bills and add to my savings until this financial crisis is over. I'll give it a couple of years, and then I'll try something else."

"It sounds fascinating. Feel free to tell me what you can. Well, I'd better be off. I'm chaperoning the next Hogsmeade weekend; Dippet knows you're back; so it'll be two weeks until I can get away for the holidays. There is no school rule against it, so I can stay the first week of the holiday's here. If that's all right?"  
"Of course that's all right. I want you here and so does Tommy. Merlin, after four years, you'd think you'd know you're wanted. Insecure bugger."

Harry gave Albus a kiss that left him with no concerns over his welcome.

"Well then. I'll see you in two weeks. Have fun with the students and Dippet."

Albus waved at Harry and stepped away through the floo.

"Hogwarts, Dumbledore's room." And with a flash of green fire, he was gone.

*

*

*

Bobby popped into the sitting room.

"Master Harry should be going to bed. Bobby will be cleaning up and then sleep for all."

Harry obeyed the directions from his bossy house elf and went off to the bathroom. Teeth brushed, dressed in warm flannel pajamas, Harry snuggled up alone in bed with a book to read for a bit. While he read, he thought he really had to do something to show Albus how much he meant to Harry. They had been together exclusively for four years, yet they kept separate houses and everything. Harry's last thought before he went to sleep was 'I wonder if it's possible to have a commitment ceremony.'


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

**AN: Sorry for the delay in updates. Real life and writers block intruded. **

"Welcome, welcome. It's so good to see all of you here. Now, I just thought I'd pop in and welcome you all to the Ministry. I know some of you are previous ministry employees, but others are new. I am Silas Twittle, the Minister for Magic as I am sure you are all aware. I can be contacted by owl if you have need of my presence. Well, I have a busy day planned. I look forward to seeing what great things get accomplished by this team. Good day." Silas Twittle took a bow and left the room, his two Ministry bodyguards trailing after him. Harry turned and looked at the witch standing next to him, an expression of incredulity upon his face.

"That is our Minister?" he asked.

The witch nodded. "Tragic isn't it. He wasn't actually voted in. He was the undersecretary. Twittle had contributed a lot of money to Verily Wasder's campaign so she had given him the position as a thank you, however, when she died a week into her second year in office from Dragon Pox, he became the new Minister. Technically he's just the interim Minister, but who knows how long it'll be before the Wizangamet calls for another election. So Twittle has been Acting Minister for magic for three months now. He's not too bad; very exuberant and flamboyant, but harmless. He lets the departments look after themselves and is quite approachable. So, you're Harry Ashby, champion dueler. I'm Rosalind Longbottom. Have you seen your work room yet?"

Harry shook his head. "I was running late today. Shocking. For some reason, Tom, my son, kicked up a fuss this morning when I tried to leave. Took a bit to calm him down. My elf ended up having to promise to bake cupcakes with Tom if he'd just let go of my leg."

Rosalind laughed. "Well, I'll show you the way to your domain. Along this corridor there are several large work rooms that have been charmed to contain any accidents, for when you require more room. This red door leads to the individual offices. Each office is numbered, one through eight."

"Only eight?" interrupted Harry.

"Rosalind turned and looked at Harry, "Yes, only eight. This is an elite group of people whose company you have joined. These eight people, including you, represent the best that Britain has to offer in innovation, spell crafting and charms ability. At present, you are all at an equal level. Directly above you is Douglass Finbar and above him is the Director for Experimental Charms. Her name is Rosalind Longbottom."

"Rosalind Longbottom. Shit. Um, I mean. Sorry. I was late. I didn't realise that Douglass wasn't the boss. He interviewed me and I thought. Sorry. Stopping speaking now."

Rosalind kept her gaze firmly on Harry, watching with amusement as his face changed from a bright red gradually paling until he stood there looking very uneasy.

"Douglass was kind enough to interview many of the applicants for the position for me last year as I was at home with my newborn daughter. Fortunately for me, Verily Wasder had kept me in mind for the Department Head position and was happy to allow me to return to work after Abigail's birth. My husband works from home and we have an excellent house elf nanny, so Abigail is fine. This is actually only my second week back at work, so I understand that you might be late due to your son. So, this is your office." Rosalind gestured towards a solid wooden door with a golden number six hanging up.

Harry opened the door and peered inside. The room was quite a large office. In one corner stood a wooden desk with a lamp and a wooden high-backed chair with a green cushion. The back wall had a bookcase and filing cabinet. In the center of the room was a long roughly finished pine wood table.

"The table is for your actual charms and spell work. Try not to destroy it too often. I recommend that you practice any possibly dangerous spells in the warded spell workrooms. The desk and chair are explanatory. They are where you will write up your reports. The filing cabinets are for said reports. They are linked directly to mine, so at any time I can open my filing cabinet and see how you are progressing. Now, today is mostly an introduction day. You'll meet up with the other Charmers, thoroughly explore our department and the rest of the Ministry. Then tomorrow it's straight to work. The first thing I will want you to look at is a more efficient way of inter-office communications. Owls take up too much space and are expensive to upkeep. I'd like something more modern and useful to the whole ministry. It will help smooth some of the objections people may have about this department. But we'll discuss this more tomorrow. So, get yourself settled here, then at eleven we are all meeting in the front office. We'll have a tour, stopping for lunch and then this afternoon we'll do an introduction about ourselves. We should finish up around four o'clock today, so your boy will have you home early. Does that sound like a plan? Good." Rosalind shook Harry's hand and exited the room leaving Harry alone.

Harry walked over to the desk. He took a small bag out of his pocket and unshrunk it. Then he took out a framed photo of Albus and Tommy and hung it on the wall next to the desk. He pulled a pot plant out; a _Mimbulus mimbletonia_ in memory of Neville, and placed it in a corner. Then Harry set up his desk with quills; including a nice eagle feather quill Albus had given him; and parchment, a blotter, inkwells and a small desk calendar. Then he decided to go for a wander around the department. Looking out his office door, he saw a couple of his new work colleagues talking. Harry decided to leave the office and made his way over to them, standing in front of office door one and two.

"Hi, I'm Harry Ashby," Harry said in introduction to the pair, "I just thought I'd come and say hi."

The witch took Harry's hand and curtsied.

"A pleasure to meet you Harry. My name is Jacqueline Rosier."

Harry's mouth tightened at the witch's name. Rosier was the name of a couple of Death Eaters. The witch before him looked a bit puzzled at Harry's stare. Harry forced himself to smile and then turned to the wizard. He was older than Harry, as was Jacqueline, closer to Albus' age. He was tall, tanned and dark haired. When he smiled at Harry, he dimpled.

"Hi Harry, my name's Richard Carlisle. I've been at the Ministry for a while. I was on the Committee for Experimental Charms, the body that helped in the creation of this department. So, how's your office? They're rather plain aren't they. This whole section of the ministry has been renovated for us. The walls in your office can be changed to a different colour if you want to individualise it. Providing you don't mind choosing one of the four ministry approved wall colours."

Harry laughed. Richard was fairly easy to get along with and while he remained cautious with Jacqueline, Harry admitted to himself that she seemed all right so far. After chatting for about ten minutes, they were joined by the remaining staff. They were Morpheus Crouch; a sixty year old wizard who had patented many charms in the past, including rediscovering _Alohomora,_ a charm originally used by thieves in Persia; Percival Baker, a wizard in his forties; Eleanor Diggory, a fifty five year old witch who looked at least fifteen years younger and inventor of many cosmetic charms; Delilah Thomas, a stunningly beautiful dark skinned witch of indeterminate age; and Abraham Shingleton, a wizard so old that he had wrinkles on his wrinkles. After they chatted for a while, Rosalind and Douglass came through the red door.

"Good, you're all here and acquainted. Now, let's have a short tour of the Ministry. First stop, the all important cafeteria." Rosalind said and marched them off.

*

*

*

*

"And then Richard decided that origami birds would be the perfect shape to fold the memos into. He knew how to do it because he spent some time in Japan in the 1920's. So now all we have to do is get the charm working consistently. For some reason, every now and again, it turns into a tortoise and the memo takes ages to get to its destination." Harry prattled on; regaling Albus with his latest information about the charm he and _Richard_ were developing to streamline office communication. Albus found it interesting and thought Harry very clever and innovative to have come up with such an idea, but he could do with less talk about Richard. Not that Richard wasn't perfectly nice whenever Albus had met him. He was; reminding Albus that he'd looked up to him when he was a first year and Albus was Head Boy; rubbing in the fact that he was younger, closer to Harry in age. No, Richard was very nice and that was Albus' problem. In the past six months that Harry had been working at the Ministry, He and Richard had become very good friends. Harry was working on this project with Richard, played quidditch on the weekends with Richard and had cancelled his last lunch date with Albus so as to 'discuss' something with Richard. Albus sighed. It looked like things were finally coming to an end with him and Harry. He reached up and rubbed at his eye, wiping away moisture that WAS NOT a tear. He wasn't crying, dammit.

"So if you don't mind, I'll be back in a bit. Okay? Bye." Harry said as he left the room and flooed to Carlisle Cottage. Albus remained seated on his armchair, gazing at the fire. He wasn't going to cry.

*

*

*

*

"It was really weird. He just didn't answer me at all. He's been getting really distant lately, doesn't want to talk. I hope I haven't done all this and its going to backfire on me." Harry said to Richard.

Richard gave Harry a hug. "It won't backfire. But maybe you have been a bit preoccupied with everything and Albus noticed something was off. He's a very smart man; he'd know something was afoot. But after today you'll tell him, and then it'll be done with, the worry and fear gone." Richard squeezed Harry's hand.

Harry nodded, "After today it'll be done.

*

*

*

*

Albus roused himself from the armchair when Balthasar landed on the armrest. He haughtily presented his leg to Albus where a small scroll was tied. His hands shaking, Albus untied the scroll. Harry had only ever sent him letters when he was going to be away for a while, when he was in Europe dueling. He carefully unrolled the parchment.

Albus

I write to request your presence at the Ministry this afternoon at 2pm. I realise that things have been strained between us of late and I plan to reveal to you why. Meet me on level two, outside the Wizengamet chambers.

Harry

This was it then. The end. And Harry had chosen the Ministry so Albus wouldn't create a scene in public. Somberly, Albus stood up and walked into his room. It was just after one now. He changed his robes; he couldn't stand the thought of wearing anything bright now, so put on a dark blue and grey robe over his trousers and shirt. He ran a brush though his hair, tying it at the nape. Straightening his back, he reached into the pot and extracted the floo powder.

"Ministry of magic" he called and disappeared in a swirl of green fire.

He arrived at the Ministry to find chaos. Wizards and witches were hurrying to the lifts, holding cameras and dictaquills. Albus had his wand weighed and was told he was expected and to go right on down to the second level. Feeling apprehensive yet puzzled, he took the lift with a couple of others who looked to be reporters for various wizarding papers.

"Um excuse me, I was wondering; what has everyone in such a flutter this afternoon?" Albus asked the witch.

"You mean you don't know? It's a meeting of the Wizangamet. The Chief Warlock is making a press statement. I really am surprised _you_ don't know," she said.

"Level Two."

Albus got out of the lift and saw a crowd of people gathered at the doors to the Wizengamet chambers. Not seeing Harry anywhere, he stood at the back near the lift to wait for Harry's arrival. However, after ten minutes Harry still hadn't turned up but the doors to the Chamber were opening. Curiosity getting the better of him, Albus entered the Chambers along with the other witches and wizards. People took seats where they could or stood as Chief Warlock McMillan stood at the podium, Minister Twittle at his side.

"Today is a monumentus day in Wizarding history. A day to repeal old laws that where troubling to make. I talk of the Law of Procreation 1612, in which it was forbidden for two Witches or two Wizards to marry, as Marriage was the means of providing future generations. This Law has always chafed society, as it denied the legality of same sex relationships as they couldn't provide heirs and continue bloodlines. Today, thanks to the efforts of the Department of Experimental Charms, the Wizangamet repeals the Law of Procreation 1612, and henceforth allows couples of the same sex to marry. This is due to breakthrough new Charms allowing a surrogate witch carry the offspring of two wizards and allowing a witch to carry her partner's child. So, with great pleasure, I hereby abolish The Law of Procreation 1612." McMillan stepped away from the podium.

Albus was shocked. Harry had asked him to be here, to hear this?

"Albus, there you are," Harry came out of the crowd towards Albus, "I had wanted to talk to you before all this but I got held up. I, can you come with me to my office. Please."

Albus nodded, and followed Harry to the lifts.

"Level Six."

Harry and Albus got out, walked down the corridor, through the red door then into office number six. Harry closed the door and sat on the desk. Albus, after a moment, conjured an armchair. If he was going to hear bad news, he wanted to be comfortable.

"Shit Albus, I don't know where to start. I haven't actually had to do this before. Well, the thing is, I've been lying to you for a while. Well, since we met really. Umm. Tom isn't my nephew. He's not related to me at all. And I'm not Harry Ashby. My name is Harry Potter and I was born in 1980. So, I'm actually a lot younger than you. Wait, don't interrupt. There's more. Tom was an evil Dark Wizard called Voldemort and he was taking over Wizarding Britain. I tried to stop him and we both died somehow when our spells met, and there was a baby and I chose to pick him up, and then I was here, in 1927. So I adopted Tom, changed our names and have tried to live my life. And I have enjoyed it. Except now I have to tell you all this because, will you marry me?"

"Pardon?"

"Shit. This is going pear shaped. What I've told you is insane but its true. I wasn't ever going to tell you but with the law repealed, I wanted to ask you to marry me, and I didn't want this huge secret between us."

Albus stood up.

"You are from the future. Tommy is a Dark Lord with a ridiculous sounding French name and you want to marry me. You're not having an affair?"

"Affair? Why would I have an affair? I've got you. Don't I?" Harry looked nervous, biting his lower lip. Albus looked at him fondly.

"We have a lot to discuss. I want to know more about your time travel, just vague things, nothing specific about the timeline. But, yes, I will marry you. I thought you were going to leave me for Richard this afternoon, so compared to that, time travel seems a relief."

Harry crushed Albus into a huge hug, peppering his face with kisses.

"Thank you. I thought I was going to lose you. Wait, Richard! You thought I was having an affair with Richard!" Harry burst out laughing. "Oh Merlin that's so hilarious. Richard is quite happy with his partner Marius, he is probably proposing now. Oh Albus, why didn't you say something if you were worried?"

Albus shrugged and settled back to enjoy more kisses. Today wasn't the disaster he thought it was going to be. He always knew Harry was special, he hadn't known why, but he looked forward to learning more. Later.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

"So who else knows about this?"

"The Goblins. Bonesnapper, all of them have been of great help to me. They arranged for me to have a life here, helped me to secure Tom, and gave me a new, though valid, identity. Ashby is an assumed name, but my inheriting the Evangelos vault and the Peverell vault are quite legitimate. I also have access to the Slytherin Vault if I choose, though as of now, I haven't."

"I see. And is Tom of any real relation to you?"

"Distantly I assume. We are both descended from Slytherin through the Peverell line. Different brothers though. But in the future we were very closely linked. That is why I came back you see. Tom Marvolo Riddle grew up in an orphanage and I assume, was persecuted quite badly by Ms. Malfay, the squib assistant director of the orphanage. Anyway, he grew up a twisted, bitter boy into an evil teenager who murdered a girl and his own father and grandparents before he had left Hogwarts. He later discovered how to split his soul and store the pieces in objects, creating Horcruxes. He had loyal pureblood followers and cause chaos and terror for eleven years before being stopped by a 15 month old baby boy called Harry Potter. That's me. Unfortunately due to the existence of the horcruxes Voldemort; which is what Tom changed his name to in a silly anagram whilst at school; he didn't die and lived on in spirit. When I was a first year, he attempted to come back by stealing the Philosophers Stone, in second year through a horcrux diary he made at Hogwarts and finally succeeded in my fourth year when he was resurrected in a ceremony involving the flesh of the servant, bone of the father and blood of the enemy. Again, that was me. In what would have been my seventh year, he attacked Hogwarts and we dueled and I think I died. I woke up in Kings Cross Station and Professor Dumbledore was there."

"Me?"

"No, not you Albus. Professor Dumbledore is a very different you. And a lot older and wrinkly and rather unattractive. And now that I know you so well, I'd also say a rather sad you. You were single and other than rumors of your affair with Gellert, I knew of no other relationship that you had. Anyway, **Professor Dumbledore** was at Kings Cross and he gave me two choices; either move on and be with my loved ones in the afterlife or go back to the battle against Voldemort. I however took a third choice that Professor Dumbledore advised against. I was one of Voldemort's horcruxes, as a result of the failed Avada Kedarva curse he cast on me as a child. So while we were talking, this really ugly blistered baby kept crying and writhing and I couldn't ignore it, so I picked it up. The next thing I knew was waking up in the snow in 1927 outside Tom's orphanage. The rest of my story you know."

*

Albus sat and thought over the tale that Harry had told him. It sounded fantastical yet he knew that Harry wouldn't lie to him about this. The story was kept very brief, Harry hadn't wanted to tell too much of the future and besides, hopefully it would be different.

"How was Tom allowed to become so dark? I was his teacher, all the teachers at Hogwarts. No one noticed?"

"I think you were all tired. There was a war in both the Wizarding and Muggle worlds from 1939 until 1945. Tom wasn't cared for at the Orphanage and I believe that is what turned him Dark. I have decided that no one is born Dark, circumstances turn people Dark. I think I might have learned that from Old You actually. You can't treat Tommy any differently because of this, you know."

"Of course not. Tommy is Tommy, not a Dark Lord. This knowledge doesn't change that. Thank you for telling me this and you are right not to tell me anymore. Curiosity can get the better of me and I am better off not knowing. Now, onto more pleasant topics. You really wish to marry me?"

"Oh yes Albus. I've wanted that for a long time. I suppose it's because of my past, same sex relationships are tolerated a lot better in the future and I wasn't ready to wait until then so I had to act now. I actually received lots of help from the Goblins. I once asked Bonesnapper about female Goblins, and it turns out that there aren't any. They are actually all hermaphrodites, they have both reproductive systems. My research looked at creating a spell that would transfer a sperm into an egg and vice versa. All the genetic makeup remains the same, just the packaging is different. For witches, one of them would be required to carry the embryo to full term, for wizards a surrogate would be needed but this way the child is the genetic offspring of the two wizards or witches. I don't know if you or I would actually want to have kids but it's important for all same sex couples to have the option and enabled the Law of Procreation to be repealed."

"Brilliant work Harry. It seems so much more impressive than flying paper birds."

"Twit."

*

*

*

*

Dawn finished tying Harry's cravat.

"There. You look gorgeous. Perhaps I shouldn't have given you the brush off all those years ago!" Dawn smirked at Harry as she turned to his hair and attempted to get it sitting right.

"Hah, the only males you are interested in are Daniel and Darius. And from the looks of you, you've been too interested in Daniel and have a consequence."

"Harry, Mum said I wasn't showing yet. I only found out the other day. I'm about three months along. I knew I looked fat in these robes."

Dawn started to tear up, hormones getting the best of her.

"No no. You don't look fat. You're glowing, gorgeous. Hey now, don't cry at my wedding. I don't want my Best Woman crying. People will think you're jealous."

Dawn snorts and dabs at her eyes and toes with a handkerchief.

"Why wouldn't I be jealous? You're marrying Albus Dumbledore, a powerful and intelligent wizard. I pity him for his poor choice in you!"

"Harpy!"

"Pansy."

The pair dissolved into giggles.

"Seriously though, I wish you all the best. You look very handsome. The green cravat really draws out your eye colour and looks good against the black robe and shirt. I can't wait until you see what Albus looks like."

Albus had decided to keep to tradition, sort of, and had refused to let Harry see his wedding robes until they were at the altar.

"Daddy, it's time to go." Tommy stood in the doorway, splendid in his own robe of bottle green and a little black cravat, the opposite of Harry. Seeing him standing there, dark hair, dark eyes, he looked a lot like Harry. He was such a loveable little boy and was very excited about Harry and Albus getting married. He had the proud job of being the ring bearer, a job he was taking very seriously, carrying the rings around in a mahogany box.

"All right we're coming."

*

*

Harry and Tommy made their way to the altar. Around them sparkled freshly fallen snow. The day was January 12th 1932, a day that would join Harry and Albus as a magically bound couple. The wedding was being held on the grounds of Bolton Farm. Weather Charms had been cast to guarantee that the ceremony would take place under rain free skies. A gazebo had been set up by Mathius Prewett and decorated with flowers purchased from Rosalind Longbottom's husband, an avid herbologist who had many greenhouses of flora and candles from Vesta. Guests were being seated on white chairs transfigured to look like they were carved from ice, but without the cold. A crimson aisle ran up the centre of the chairs leading to where Harry would stand, awaiting Albus' arrival. Harry made his way up the aisle now, past all the guests and shook hands with the Bond Witch. The witch was actually a young blonde woman named Cassie who thought it most romantic to be marrying two men. Harry had been quite surprised when he had written up the wedding invitations at just how many friends he had made. Included in the guest list were Rosalind Longbottom, Richard, Septimus Weasley, Filius Flitwick, Bonesnapper, Dawn, Vesta and their families, the Prewetts, all his work colleagues and Francis Delacour; a wizard he'd met in France. Harry stood proud and still, and very nervous, his hand in Tommy's as they waited for Albus to arrive. A bell chimed, light and musical. The guests turned to look and so did Harry. Albus walked towards him smiling. He was wearing an ornately embroidered robe of a soft dove grey. The embroidery was done in white, showcasing snowy firebirds. Albus' hair was long and tied back with a white velvet ribbon. In his hands he carried a single white rose.

"Dearly beloved. We have come together to celebrate this special union between Harry Ashby and Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore…." Cassie spoke at length on their love for each other, the uniqueness of their union and then asked for the rings. Tommy, who had begun to fidget, sprang forward in haste and tripped over his own feet, dropping the box on the floor. He began to cry.

"Sshh. It's okay. No harm done right?" Harry winked at Tommy as he helped him up. Tommy nodded and again proffered the ring box, not quite as exuberantly as before.

"I, Harry Ashby, solemnly and wholeheartedly wish to bond with you, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. With this ring, imbued with my magic, I promise to love, honour and cherish you for the rest of my days." Harry slipped the platinum ring onto Albus' finger.

Albus turned to Tommy and received the second ring.

"I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, solemnly and wholeheartedly wish to bond with you, Harry Ashby. With this ring, imbued with my magic, I promise to love, honour and cherish you for the rest of my days."

"With the magic bestowed upon me, I hereby declare thee husband and husband. You may now seal this union with a kiss."

Harry and Albus stared at each other and smiled before leaning in to share a deep kiss. As they broke apart, guests began to clap. Holding tightly to each other, their hands bound together with green and silver cords, they stepped forward with Tommy to greet their guests as Mr. Ashby and Mr. Dumbledore, spouses. They mingled, ate some of the delicious food prepared by Bobby and accepted compliments and well wishes from all. Tommy was to stay the evening with his Granny Vesta and then tomorrow would join Harry and Albus on a two week holiday in Australia. Finally it came time to go, and after giving Tommy an extra long hug, Harry and Albus apparated to a château owned by the Delacour's in the south of France to spend their wedding night.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

**AN: My knowledge of the lead up to WW2 in Germany is sketchy, so please forgive any errors. **

Harry folded up the newspaper in his hands and stuffed it into his pocket. The date showed briefly, December 23, 1938. It was nearly Christmas. He tightened the scarf around his neck and put his hands deep into his coat pocket and began to walk against the freezing wind. He nodded briefly to a man he passed, then ducked into a large hall. Inside the hall, a crowd had gathered. At a podium set up at the front , a man was giving a speech. He was short, dark haired and had a small mustache. He spoke passionately and eloquently, driving the crowd into a frenzy of cheering. "Heil Hitler. Freedom for Germany!" Harry joined in, whilst looking around to see if he could spot a particular woman. Yes, over in the corner. Eva Braun, Hitler's lover and, more importantly to Harry, a dark witch attached to Grindlewald's followers. She had been by Hitler's side for many years, adding compulsion charms to his speeches, compelling people to believe in what Hitler spouted. Oh, Hitler was charismatic enough, but with the help of a witch, the muggle's were helpless to resist his words. Harry lingered a bit longer, staying near the back so as not to draw any attention to himself and finally, Hitler, Braun and associates left. Harry decided it was time to take his leave too, and once again made his way out into the snow-lined streets of Berlin.

"It's nice of you to actually make it home on Christmas Day. Even if it is 10'oclock at night," a sharp voice said from the kitchen. Harry winced. Albus sounded angry.

"Tom has just given up and gone to bed. He hasn't seen you since September and you can't even come home from your conference until now. I don't know what is so important about communication charms or whatever, but you've got to start thinking about your family more! Arianna cried herself to sleep at 7:00, Tom is in a foul mood. Merry Christmas husband!" Albus spat and stomped off to bed. Harry jumped as he heard the bedroom door slam and felt the telltale magic of a locking charm. He sighed and sat at the kitchen table to take off his boots. He was hungry. He'd grabbed a sandwich at the portkey station in Berlin, but that was hours ago. There had been a delay of some sort. He'd actually had to portkey to Brussells, then on to London before debriefing at the Ministry.

POP

Bobby appeared next to him. "Master Harry is needing some food. Here, turkey and potatoes and cranberry jelly. Cold now but can heat with a snap. Bobby has made up the spare bed. Bobby thinks you've been sleeping there too much. Need to give Master Albus presents, too much yelling," Bobby asserted and then he once again popped off. Without warming the turkey. Harry swallowed mouthfuls of food, barely tasting it, then dragged himself off to the spare room. _Merry fucking Christmas_ he thought.

Harry's morning started early. Arianna rushed into his room at 6:oo. "Daddy, you're home. I asked Santa to bring you back for christmas and he did. Wake up daddy! Why are you sleeping in here again?" Arianna accompanied her questions with bouncing on the bed. An action that forced Harry into awareness of his full bladder. "Just a sec sweetie. Dad'll just be a moment."

Harry quickly rushed to the bathroom. As the door closed, he closed his eyes and took some deep breaths. In out. In out. It would all be okay.

"Well Ari, sorry I wasn't here yesterday. Did Santa bring you something good?"

Arianna, or Ari nodded enthusiastically. She was a small girl for her age. She was nearly 6, her birthday being the following March. Genetically she was both Harry's and Albus', inheriting her fiery red hair from both of them. She had blue eyes, not green so didn't look too much like Lilly Potter. From Harry, she had his slightness and from Albus, her slightly long pointy nose. Whilst not a beauty, she was striking and would one day grow to be a striking woman. Now however, she was just a small girl excited by her new doll.

"And if I feed her a bottle, she stops crying and laughs!"

Harry smiled and gave her a cuddle. "I'm glad Santa gave you such a nice doll. Now, shall we venture into the kitchen and see if Bobby has any pancakes for us?"

Arianna quickly agreed and Harry snagged a dressing gown from the chair on his way out.

Breakfast was a stilted affair. Albus was still angry, Tom was silent and Arianna, whilst initially quite chatty, gradually quietened as she picked up on the tension in the room. Finally, Albus muttered something about a potion simmering and left the dining room. Tom left shortly afterwards, throwing a dark look at Harry on his way out. Sighing once again, Harry decided to play with Ari for a while before attempting to talk to the others. They went outside and began to build snow sculptures, a snow fort and eventually just had an epic snow ball fight. Laughing and cold, they went back to the house, where Bobby took Ari away for a hot bath. Looking towards the Potion's Lab, harry saw the door was still closed so decided to brave Tom's wrath first.

"Knock Knock. Hey Tom, you in there?" Harry pushed open the door to Tom's room. Like most preteens, it was quite messy, especially considering Tom had only been back from Hogwarts for three days. Tom was lying on the bed, face down, with a book by his side.

"What do you want?" he asked rudely. Harry sighed and went to sit down in the armchair next to Tom's bed. He removed a blue and bronze scarf from the arm and sat.

"Tom, I'm sorry I wasn't here yesterday. I really wanted to be but work...it's not something I can explain. You know that sometimes I get busy and can't talk about things. This is one of those times."

Tom grunted from the bed.

"Um, care to translate? I don't speak teenage anymore." Harry said, in an attempt of humour to lighten the situation. Tom suddenly sat up.

"Are you and Father going to seperate?" he asked.

Harry rocked back as if struck. Seperate from Albus? No!

"Why would you think that?"

"You've been yelling a lot. I heard it last night. You haven't been home for a while, Ari has been staying at Granny Vesta's a lot. You haven't been writing to Father at school, I have been checking to see when Balthasar comes to the Great Hall. Just, if you're gonna seperate then I want to know."

"You've got it all wrong. Your Father and I are not going to seperate. I've been really busy, but things'll sort themselves out. Trust me."

Tom snorted again but nodded. Harry smiled weakly at Tom.

"Now, how about we get you out of this room and interacting with ari and me. You Ravenclaws, always have your nose in a book" he teased.

Tom laughed and went with harry to the kitchen. There Ari was sitting at the big pine table drinking a hot chocolate. Upon their arrival, two more mugs appeared.

"So, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?" Harry asked, "Ari and I have already made a snow fort and had a great time throwing snow at each other. We could go for a fly, or ride Beastie though the woods or go visiting? Which will it be?"

Ari and tom looked at each other.

"Flying!" the both said in unison. Harry beamed.

"Great. Last one outside with a broom is a rotten pumpkin!" There was a mad scrabble for the broom closet as they raced outside.

That night, harry made sure to rush to the bedroom he shared with Albus before Albus got there. He made sure he was firmly planted in bed with no intention of leaving. Albus came in shortly afterwards and a flicker of surprise ran across his face. He turned his back to Harry and changed into a night shirt. Harry was barechested and wearing only pajama bottoms. Albus qyuickly got into bed, turned his back to Harry and Noxed the light.

"Albus. We have to talk. Tommy asked if we were going to seperate." Albus jerked.

"I told him we weren't. That we loved each other very much and loved him and Ari too. I do Albus, love you very much and I am sorry, so sorry for missing Christmas."

"It's not only Christmas Harry!"

"I know. Things at work, the charms. We've had a few bungles with a project and Jacqueline has been sick..."

"Harry, for our marriage to survive, I need honesty from you. I saw Richard the other day. Jacqueline hasn't been sick. Richard was surprised when I mentioned it. He also asked after you, seeing as how he hadn't seen you at work for a few months, since you left the Experimental Charms division. So Harry, why have you been going to work and off to conferences? The truth please."

Silence.

"Well Harry, this says a lot doesn't it."

"I can't Albus. I work at the Ministry, but I can't tell you. Can you understand that?"

"Why can't you tell me. Why can't you speak to your husband...Oh."

"Yes."

"Ahh"

"It's hard, but important. I'm really sorry I have to keep this from you. You know I share everything with you if I can."

"The situation in Germany? With that Hittle person?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny."

"Is...is Gellert involved?"

"Albus, can't speak about it! Literally can't. Spell."

"Be careful. He's obsessed with this child's story, from Beedle the bard, 'The Tale of Three Brothers.' I have heard of his prowess with his wand. Maybe."

"Albus, trust me, I know all this. History, remember."

"Right, well goodnight then."

"Night."

Albus rolled back over, lay his head on Harry's shoulder and sighed.

"That tickles!"

Albus' hands crept lower.

"Does this tickle?"

Harry was too busy to answer.

Down the hall, Tom smiled. All was right again.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

**AN: I know some people have reviewed wanting more information about what happens between the wedding and 1938, but unfortunately I cant cover everything in the story. It needed to move along faster, so the big jump in time. Future chapters will cover the war, Tom and Ari leaving school, The Marauder Era at Hogwarts and then end in 1980, when Harry was born. This story has dragged on a lot longer than I had planned and now I have a new story in my head that is waiting for me to finish this one so I can move on. So, I hope you enjoy what I manage to write. Thanks. **

Tom was folding up clothes in his dorm room in Ravenclaw tower. Tomorrow he would be catching the train back to Kings Cross so that he could be home for the summer holidays. His first year at Hogwarts was finished. As a child of a teacher, he didn't have to catch the train, he could have been side-along apparated with his Father, or even used the floo connection, but he had wanted the time with his friends and his parents had agreed that the train ride was traditional. Tom was an orderly child. He kept his possesions neat and so they were easy to pack. He used shrinking charms on his books so that they'd all fit into his trunk. He was glad he could use magic, or else he didn't want to imagine how heavy they would be. The Prophet had reported an article about possibly restricting magic use in minors to school only, which he found horrifying. When he'd written to Dad though, he'd been assured that if the measure did pass, it would be hard to pick up who was doing magic in an all-magic household. Tom shuddered at the thought of cleaning Ari's messes up by hand. She liked to 'cook' and often her products turned out extremely messy and unappetizing. One time she'd managed to get goop all over the kitchen, even on the ceiling and poor Balthasar had flown in at the wrong time and been splattered too! Tom laid out an outfit to wear tomorrow, then closed his trunk. Like his Dad, he prefered to wear trousers under his robes, he would be mortified if he just went with underwear like the more traditional purebloods did and a wind swept up and exposed him. He'd never seen it happen, but he was sure if it did, it would be to him. Suddenly, a head appeared around the doorway to the dorm room.

"Oi, Ashby, you finished yet? The other first year boys are planning a quidditch game against the second years. Do you want to play?"

"Sure, I'll just grab my Cleansweep 2. I hope Dad'll let me have the new Cleansweep 3 for Christmas. This one is alright, but the new model has su[perior braking charms and cushioning. This was Dad's old one and he said it was good enough for me for now, but I want to try out for Chaser next year, and I'll need a newer model."

Albus watched from his window as he saw the boys swooping around the Quidditch field, Tom laughing and joking with his friends.

* * * * *

"Bloody idiot. He needs to get his head out of his arse and realise that we are on the brink of war! Germany is not just building up their military to go to a tea party!" Harry fumed.

Lycoris Black looked up from his desk as Harry stormed in.

"I take it your meeting with the Muggle Prime Minister didn't go well? Chamberpot or something, right?"

"Chamberlain actually Cori. And no, it didn't go well. He refuses to see that Hitler is going to be a threat to Britain. And as I can't pin anything on Grindlewald yet, I can't convince the Wizengamoequal to himself. t to look deeper into it yet either."

"Makes you wish you had learned more back in your time, eh?"

"Indeed. I only learned some much until I was 11, and after that, a magical education doesn't equip one for the Muggle world. And our history teacher was a ghost fixated on the Goblin Wars."

Lycoris nodded sagely.

"Well, next time you plan a timetravelling jaunt, be better prepared."

That got a smile out of Harry, a rareity at present as he was under a lot of stress, working undercover in Germany and Russia for the Unspeakables.

Lycoris Balck was something of an anomoly. He was the second born son of the elder Black line, and so was a very pureblood, pureblood. However, he was also remarkedly open-minded about issues of blood purity; a fact he was quite vocal about, much to the displeasure of his family. He believed that magical power was as important as bloodlines and so saw powerful halfbloods and even muggleborns as equals, not beneath him as the rest of his family did. He was also Harry's best friend. He had been an auror in the Ministry before being recruited by the Department of Mysteries as an Unspeakable, whilst Harry had been recruited a couple of years into his work in the Department of Experimental Charms. Not being able to discuss your work with loved ones takes a toll, and so each Unspeakable is pared with a partner. Lycoris, or Cori, and Harry had been partners for five years now and had become very close friends. Most people still believed that they were Auror and Charms Master still, who had met through the Ministry cafeteria or something. Lycoris, along with Albus, was the only other wizard to know Harry's true story. And constantly ribbed Harry about it. _If I had travelled through time, I'd have remembered the Wizard Draw numbers, or, What's the point of knowing what the future is like, if you can't remember any decent facts to change it for the better. _Hence the current conversation. Harry had learned a bit about World War Two at Primary School, but not much. He knew the dates, 1939 to 1945. He knew the major players and that the Allied forces won, but he didn't have any deeper knowledge. And due to Binns abysmal teaching at Hogwarts, he didn't know nearly enough about the Grindlewald Years to make much of a difference.

The Unspeakables were an elite division within the Department of Mysteries. Not researchers, they were more like top secret agents, James Bond style. They were spies, hit wizards and secret seekers. Basically, they were the best the wizarding world had to offer in covert operations and combat. At present, Harry and Lycoris were investigating Hitler and his links to the Wizarding world. In this case, Harry _knew_ the link would lead to Gellert Grindlewald, he was just still searching for a way to prove it, and also for a way to prove that Grindlewald was responsible for a series of gruesome murders and thefts of magical artefacts. And Harry knew he was running out of time. It was already May 1939. Germany would attack Poland in September and World War Two would start amongst the muggles. Harry also knew that he had to find Gellert Grindlewald for another reason. Albus' warning at Christmas had stayed in his mind; except he knew that the Tale of Three Brothers wasn't just a fairy tale. Grindlewald had the Elder Wand and Harry wanted it.

* * * * *

The summer holiday passed quickly. Britain seemed oblivious to the fact that they would shortly be at war. Tom had several people stay over the course of the holiday's, boys from Ravenclaw and also Alphard Black, a Slytherin in his year. Harry found it amusing watching them play together, as he knew that Alphard was Sirius's uncle who had been blasted off the tapestry for leaving Sirius his inheritance. Arianna enjoyed having her family all at home around her. She missed Tom and Albus when they were away at school. Albus would come home several times a week to see her, but she only got to see Tom in the holidays. She was also glad that for a period of time, her dad wasn't going away. So Ari was having a lovely summer too. Harry had managed to find the time to talk to Albus about what he could regarding the war. As it had yet to happen, he wasn't restricted by his Oath in what he could say, so he was able to tell Albus what he remembered from his previous timeline. Excluding the Elder wand. Albus had been too interested in it previously. He was also able to warn Albus that he was likely to have to go on long undercover missions if and when war broke out. Consequentially, Harry and Albus decided to look into purchasing a small cottage just outside of Hogsmeade. The cottage they bought was a three bedroom one halfway between Hogsmeade and Hogwarts and very close to the border of the Forbidden Forest. Harry had a chuckle about it and named it the Lunar Palace. With a cottage so close to Hogwarts, if Harry was called away, Albus could teach at Hogwarts during the day when Ari was at day school but be there in the afternoons and night for her. During the day, Ari went to a small dayschool run by Cedrella Weasley, the young wife of Harry's friend Septimus. Septimus still worked in the ministry in Floo Regulations and the extra income made by Cedrella was helpful. She had been disowned when she married Septimus, so hadn't a dowry provided for her.

* * * * *

Harry dropped Tom off at Kingscross Station on the morning of September 1st, 1939. Albus had gone ahead to Hogwarts, ao it was just Ari and Harry saying their farewells. Tom had a new familiar to take with him to Hogwarts this year; an owl of his own, a Snowy whom he called Hermes. He was also the proud owner of a Cleansweep Three, which he had hopes of getting onto the quidditch team with.

"Bye Tom. Hope you have fun. I'll get to see you when I visit Father at school on weekends now. And sometimes you will be able to come to Hogsmeade for weekends too. Won't that be nice. You will come and see me, not tease me like Michaela's brother does? I said that you wouldn't do that because you're the best brother ever."

Tom nodded, "I'll see you a bit. But you are a lot younger than me so I can't speand all my time with you. I have friends too."

Harry smiled fondly at his kids. Tom had lots of friends. He was very popular in his year and with those the year above and below him too.

"Now, I know that you have permission to go to Hogsmeade sometimes because your father will be there looking after Ari on weekends, but I want you to behave. Bad tidings are coming and restrictions may end up being enforced. Just, Tommyboy, do me proud, okay? I'll miss you. I'll write when I can."

Harry gave Tom a quick hug, followed by a longer one from Ari. Then Tom hopped onto the train and found a carriage with his friends. Harry and Ari stood waving as the Hogwart's Express puffed away into the distance.

* * * * *

On Sunday the third os September, Tommy was sitting at Ravenclaw table having his breakfast. There was some really thick fresh bread that he was smothering in marmalade. He also had his eye on some bacon and eggs afterwards. He was a growing boy and needed sustenence for good studying power. At 9:30, he headed off to the library to doublecheck his homework for Professor Slughorn. He then played several matches of gobstones in the commonroom. He headed in to the Great Hall for lunch at 12:00. Tom was halfway through a ham and cheese sandwich when the owls appeared. They were all carrying a special edition of the Daily Prophet. He snatched one from Hermes claws, giving him a piece of cheese in thanks and read quickly.

**BRITAIN AT WAR!!!**

**At 1100 hours today, the British Muggle Prime Minister Chamberlain declared war on Germany. This was quickly followed by Australia, France and New Zealand. The Minister for Magic, Hector Muldoon, confirmed the Wizarding World's participation in the war.**

"**The German Ministry is working hand in hand with the muggle's and pose a great threat to our lives and livelihood. Therfore, we will be joining our non magical countrymen in this Great fight for freedom!" The ministry has ordered that a buildup of aurors begins with applicants to apply through the DMLE. For further information, read pages 3, 5 and 9.**

Tom quickly looked up at the Teacher's table to see his father's reaction. He had a letter in hand and Balthasar was flying away. A few seconds later, he stood up and hurried out the hall. Tom felt worried. What had the letter said that provoked such a response? He hurriedly finished his sandwich and washed it down with Pumkin juice. Then he stood to leave. As he did so, the doors opened again and Father entered the hall, with Ari at his side. He went to the Headmaster's dias and spoke quietly to him, then moved to leave again, motioning for Tom to follow. Tom did and hurried out of the hall.

"Father, why is Ari..."

Albus crouched down, his arm around Ari, who looked upset.

"You've read the paper, haven't you son? Well, your dad has been called to the ministry. He, um, he'll be away for a little bit. So Ari will stay in my quarters for a while, with Bobby looking after her. She'll still go to day school, but instead of spending nights in the cottage, I'd prefer we were all here together."

"But why would Dad have to go to the Ministry? He just invents charms!"

Ari piped up then. "I don't think so. He got changed into a dark blue robe with a funny crest on it. Uncle Cori came too and was wearing one. It wasn't an auror robe."

Albus nodded. "Very observant Ari. Your dad is actually working for a top secret part of the ministry. Something to do with the war. So, he's had to go away."

"When will he be back?"

Albus looked haunted. "I don't know Tom. I don't know."


	21. Chapter 21

May 1940. Eight months since war broke out. Eight months since Hitler had invaded Poland and Britain, France, South Africa, Australia, News Zealand and Canada decided that they could not stand aside and let a tyrant take over the world. Shortly after, the Ministry's of Magic in these countries also declared war, as they were aware, thanks to a special ops team from Her Majesty's Wizarding Forces, that World War Two, was instigated in part by a wizard. Gellert Grindlewald.

Gellert Grindlewald. Albus snorted._ How much of his life was going to be ruined by that man? First his heart (which took years to heal), his sister, relationship with his brother, and now Harry. Harry...._

Harry had only been able to apparate or portkey back to England three times in the past eight months, each time his visit was cut short by more outbreaks of war. Things would settle down, then flare up as soon as Harry was out of the country. Life in Britain was still fairly normal,it was possible to believe that the war was just a figment of imagination. Especially in rural Scotland. However, newspaper images showed daily new attrocities committed by Grindlewald and his lackey, Adolf Hitler. Albus opened up his latest letter from Harry. Balthasar was a very busy bird. He'd had special advanced training at the Ministry as a covert communications owl and thus was fairly safe to send messages with. Harry's last message had come that morning.

May 17th, 1940

Dear Albus,

I still miss you like crazy. I'm sorry the last trip got cut short, hope Ari got her birthday present from me. A bit late, but the shops in Poland are not exactly great at the moment. My trip here has been concluded and I am leaving for France as soon as I post this letter. Will be joining up with the British Army in North France. The Germans have recently invaded Belgium and we need to push the twits back.

Enough about the war. Am hoping to wangle some more free time soon, and then we'll go out for a romantic dinner again. That's what's been keeping me going these last few eeks, thoughts of you and me, in the sunshine, having a picnic in the clearing in the forest near our house. Strawberries and cream, fresh bread and butter, a roast chicken....The food here has been pretty awful. Why hasn't some clever transfigurations Master figured out how to make transfigured food yet? If you have a spare minute, between teaching and looking after the twosome, get cracking on it!

Give Tom and Ari my love. Apologise again to Ari for missing her birthday. And tell Tom that emotional blackmail will not get him the Cleansweep 4. He only just got the 3 and it's good enough for a Hogwarts team. Maybe next year when he is a third year. And thank him for taking such good care of the snakes for me.

Well, I'd better be off, portkey's waiting. Wish I could say this war'll be over soon like some of the other chaps, but I know it won't. Unless something changes, the person who defeats Grindlewald isn't involved yet, and if I get my way, he wont be. He doesn't need that kind of pressure.

Love you heaps, thinking of you always,

Harry

Albus folded up the letter. It had been a week since the letter had been posted. He wondered where Harry was now...

* * *

"Fucking Germans!" Cori swore as he dodged another granade, flicking it away with his wand. "Dont they realise that I am a very important person and don't need to be covered in mud all the time!"

"Maybe the DO know your important, and figure that you've been missing out on beauty treatments. Mud masks are good for the skin!" Harry replied, laughing as he cast a shield over the nearest phalanx of soldiers, effectively saving their lives from the splatter of machine gun fire heading towards them. Humour, and comradeship were one of the ways that Harry and Cori remained upbeat. Though at present, there wasn't much to be upbeat about. They had just heard that the Belgium Ministry and King had surrended to the Germans, and were at present in retreat trying to get the army to safety. Not an easy task when you are being harried by machine guns, bombs and grenades. Airstrikes weren't helping either. Enemy snipers were shooting down any bird in the sky, Harry assumed it was so that messenger birds weren't able to contact other wizards for help. Harry, Cori and ten more pairs of wizards, both English and French, were the sole wizards in an army of about 350, 000. They spent most of their time shielding the soldiers, dismantling traps and keeping the enemy wizards at bay. Harry and Cori were by far the most effective, do in part to Harry's sheer amount of magical power and Cori's ruthless nature. But despite this, things were not looking good. It was a bloody retreat, and no one was quite sure how it was going to end. Not even Harry. He had lost track of the date and their whereabouts. Cori had been fishing for Harry to recall how things turned out, but Harry couldn't remember. He just knew that things were not looking good.

"Harry, Cori. Scouts report that there is a town ahead. It's a port town, there may be some boats so some of us can escape the slaughter. We also have heard that the German armies have halted for now. We may have a day or so respite." Varden, a French Hit wizard called out.

Harry was camped outside town in a tent with Cori. He wasn't sure where exactly he was, somewhere nearish Calaise by his reckoning. The German army had been relatively quiet the last day but he knew it wasn't going to last. Even now, he could hear the distant sounds of aeroplanes in the sky. He nudged Cori with his foot. "Up, dream boy. Time for us to go earn our keep. Bombers coming in."

Cori swiftly woke up, a habit he'd recently acquired. He and Harry rushed out of their tent and began a complex series of wand movements and incantations. Harry could feel the air around him crackle with the strength of the magic they cast out, trying to put up a shield to protect as many people as they could from the _Luftwaffe_. Booms, crashes and flashes of light lit up the skies as the bombs hit. Some cries could be heard, where shields had been weak or failed. Muggles couldn't see the magic, but Harry could, and he was dismayed to realise that some areas of the soldiers were not covered. He could see the area under the protection of Marie and Quincy flickering, not strong enough to keep out everything. He focused again on strengthening his own shield. He'd long since learnt that you can't save everyone. It felt like days, pouring his energy and magic intop the shield. His feet caked in mud as he drew magic from the very earth beneath him but at last it was over. Checking his watch, he realised that only an hour had passed. He grabbed Cori and they staggered over to the command tent, to see if there was anything they could do to help.

"Letters! They were dropping letters?" Cori stated, "Are they daft? The only thing paper is good for right now is toilet paper!"

"What did the letters say?" Harry asked.

The General handed one to Harry. He read, _"British soldiers! Look at the map: it gives your true situation! Your troops are entirely surrounded — stop fighting! Put down your arms!"_

"Hmm, where are we?" Harry asked quietly. He still was unsure as to where the army was. Somewhere in Europe was his idea at present.

"Dunkirk." General stated.

_"Dunkirk!"_ Harry cried.

"What is it Harry. What do you know?" Cori demanded, having picked up on Harry's excitement.

"How do you guys feel about boats?" Harry asked slyly. He quickly explained his plan. While the generals organised the troops evacuation, Harry, Cori and half the other wizard teams would be at the harbour transfiguring boats. Hundreds and hundreds of boats.

"Do you really think this is going to work? This is insane. Some of these boats are little more than tug boats. How many people do you think will make it, half of the transfigurations will probably fail halfway over! And who will believe it? The average muggle isn't to know about magic, it's bad enough the Generals do!"

Harry shook his head. Cori was being unusually pigheaded. Maybe because he wasn't crash hot with transfiguration and instead of large ferries, he was only able to transfigure dainty little yachts.

"It'll work, and the muggles will be none the wiser, and in fact, this will be seen as an example of British bravery and daring. Enough to make history books, history books that a small boy might read in the future!"

Some of the wizards shook their heads. They were unsure if there would be a future for any of them and couldn't see anything worth writing about but Cori perked up. "History making is it. Well then, what shall we call the next yacht? I'm thinking _The Lucky Devil!_" And he began to whistle as he worked.

Hours later, watching as the last boat set off with its cargo of soldiers, Cori shot the tired Harry a grin. Harry pulled a stone out of his pocket and muttered, "Portus." The stone shimmered for a second and then solidified. Cori took hold of the stone as well. "Where's it set to?"

"Dover. Need to modify some memories so that they think they organised the rescue launch."

"And then where to?"

"Debrief, then off to get some strawberries."

"Strawberries?"

"You probably don't want to know."

* * *

It was quite late. Albus had sat up by the fire after reading Ari a story and putting her to bed. He sipped on his cocoa and absent mindedly thought of going to bed. He pushed himself up from the chair and took his mug into the kitchen. Bobby had gone off to bed so Albus gave it a quick wash and rinse himself. Humming softly to himself, he washed.

"Bloody hell. Who moved the footstool?" a voice cursed. Albus dropped the mug, it shattered in the sink as he hurried into the living room. On the floor was a familiar stranger. His hair was long and tangled, his face adorned with week-long stubble and dressed in clothes that were dirty and in need of repair. His shoes were very muddy. Nontheless, Albus ran forward and scooped him into his arms.

"You've moved the footstool."

"Mmmn, I know. I've taken up sitting in your chair, so the footstool is with me."

"I think I squished the strawberries. There is a funny stain spreading on my hip."

"Strawberries? Oh, strawberries. Forget them. The important thing is your home. Take a bath, and come to bed. We'll discuss strawberries and everything else tomorrow."

Harry held Albus close, inhaling the lemony scent of him and stroking his long, slightly grey, auburn hair.

"Missed you."

"Missed you too."

They walked together to the bathroom, content to be together again, for the moment.


End file.
